Jose: My squad are all out here, not like Le Saux

CHELSEA’S only other competitive f i xture i n Israel was not lost yesterday on Jose Mourinho, who arrived armed with a stout defence of his policy on young players, and a flick on the ear for Graeme Le Saux.

Very little drifts by Mourinho unnoticed, even when his in-tray is cluttered, and certainly not the fact six senior players opted out of a UEFA Cup game played in Tel Aviv 14 years ago.

Among the six was Le Saux, the left back turned club ambassa- dordo turned critic, who claimed Chelsea’sCh boss had set football backba 30 years by his row with Eva Carneiro.Ca ‘I didn’t have a single problempr within the squad,’ said Mourinho, when asked the security question ahead of tonight’s ChampionsC League match here against Maccabi Tel Aviv.

‘I didn’t have a Graeme Le Saux. I had everybody without fears,f just wanting to come. I even had a player with a wife who is maybe going to have a babyba but he’s here, focusing on whatwh he can do for us. We need thatth for our happiness and pride.’

LeL Saux, Emmanuel Petit, WilliamW Gallas, Albert Ferrer, EidurEi Gudjohnsen and captain Marcel Desailly refused to travel to Tel Aviv in 2001, little more than a month after the 9/11 terror attacks on New York.

Israeli cabinet minister Rehavam Zeevi had been shot dead the day before Chelsea left London with a young squad including Joel Kitamirike, who made his only appearance for the club. Claudio Ranieri’s team lost 2-0 and were unable to overturn the deficit in the second leg.

Now they are back to face Maccabi, less than a fortnight after 130 were killed in Paris, sparking a new wave of security fears across Europe. A win will clinch a last-16 place if Dynamo Kiev fail to win in Porto.

‘I didn’t have a meeting to ask about their feelings,’ said Mourinho. ‘I had more than a couple of individual contacts to get the feeling. It’s not the same to play in Israel as it is to play in Stoke or Newcastle. The feeling is different. But I got the sense of responsibility and everybody goes. Nobody even tried not to go.’

Only Thibaut Courtois and Radamel Falcao are absent, both injured, and Mourinho has included young players in Ruben Loftus- Cheek, Kenedy, Baba Rahman, Bertrand Traore, Ola Aina and Kurt Zouma.

How many appear remains to be seen, but t he manager defended his record of developing youngsters, in particular Loftus-Cheek, who many inside the club believe can be the first to graduate from academy to first team since John Terry.

‘In the first-team squad, we have seven Under 21 players,’ said Mourinho (right). ‘They have 26 starts, 12 substitute appearances. Twenty-six starts is a lot at Chelsea when you have top players. Where it’s difficult for the young- est to have chances, we are giving opportunities to players.

‘Ruben is a very talented player with ups and downs in his evolution. He is having chances not many players at his age get in a big club. He is learning with a top team. Sooner or later, he has to give one step forward to be more stable in the first team. But he is a player we have lots of hope for.’ CHELSEA made a loss of £23.1million last season. The champions, who yesterday revealed their annual results until June 30, 2015, reported the deficit kept them within financial fair play

limits.