Fabregas loves Chelsea already! Mourinho fans derby flames ahead of Arsenal showdown

JOSE MOURINHO has painted Cesc Fabregas so blue ahead of his first match-up with Arsenal since leaving the Gunners in 2011 you might just as well stick a hat on him and call him a smurf.

Cesc Fabregas playing for ChelseaCesc Fabregas joined Chelsea in the summer from Barcelona[GETTY]

All eyes will be on the Chelsea midfielder who returned to the Premier League in the summer after three years with Barcelona and for the first time is preparing to go up against the red-and-white clad team he signed for as a 16-year-old boy.

However, his new manager is certain there will be no split loyalties as far as the 27-year-old is concerned.

Instead, Mourinho insists Fabregas is already a completely settled part of an idyllic Chelsea family that, to listen to him, might just have fallen out of the pages of a certain Belgian comic book.

"I think he loves Chelsea already," Mourinho said. "He's so happy - the way he plays, the way he's a member of the squad, the way he lives in this Little Blue Village.

"It is like he's here for a long time. If you ask him now if he regrets the move, I'm sure he'd say no. If you ask him if he would have chosen a different option, he'd say no.

"And if you ask him where he thinks he'll be in five years' time, he'd say he sees himself here in five years' time. He is Chelsea."

Touchingly, though, Mourinho claims he would be disappointed if Fabregas were to play down his allegiances to a side who found him, nurtured him and turned him into a man.

Chelsea-Arsenal should be close [AMBIENT]

Fabregas was, I don't say born, but almost made at Arsenal

Jose Mourinho

"He'll never lose his respect and connection with a club where he arrived as a kid and left as a top player," the Portuguese said. "I wouldn't be happy if he came here saying he didn't care about Arsenal, 'my life at Arsenal is over, I forget everything now it's just about Chelsea'.

"I don't like that approach. Many times, when they say that, it's not true. If it's true, it's also not good. So I'm completely happy with his approach.

"After Chelsea, I worked for Inter and Real Madrid and I never stopped to say Chelsea were my club and I wanted to come back one day. I gave everything to Inter and Real Madrid.

"Fabregas's approach is correct. He doesn't forget Arsenal, the time he spent there, the contribution it made to his fantastic career. That deserves a place in his memory and his heart. For me, the approach is correct.

"But the fact he's giving everything to Chelsea with such professionalism and enthusiasm is exactly what we want of him."

Inevitably, the conversation moved onto the thorny issue of what Fabregas should do if he scored against his former club. Should he celebrate?

"Celebrate or not, I don't care - the important thing is he should score!" Mourinho said. "When my team scored against Chelsea - and my team did three times, two in Milan and one at Stamford Bridge - I didn't celebrate.

"I was happy; you can't imagine how happy I was. But the point is not whether you celebrate or not. Yes, controlling your emotion and not celebrating is nice. It shows some respect. But if you can't control your emotion, you can't. It's all right." It is uncertain what sort of reaction a player who was a talisman for seven years, the club captain and, until May, part of the last Arsenal team to win a trophy.

Cesc Fabregas playing for ArsenalFabregas left Arsenal for Barcelona in 2011 [GETTY]

Last month, former Stamford Bridge stalwart Frank Lampard continued to receive the adulation of the fans despite playing these days in the lighter blue shades of Manchester City and Mourinho hopes Fabregas will be afforded a similar honour.

"Fabregas was, I don't say born, but almost made at Arsenal," Mourinho said. "The feeling should be a good feeling between the fans and him.

"But it depends also of the club culture, as you could see with Chelsea fans with Frank Lampard. And maybe you will see, who knows, Chelsea fans with Ashley Cole if he comes back with Roma. It depends."

And if the Arsenal fans do turn against him? So what! "It depends on Chelsea's fans, but if 40,000 Blues fans want it, nobody will listen to 3,000 Red fans," he said. "The reaction from Arsenal fans? Nobody will hear it."

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JOSE MOURINHO has insisted “there is no racism in football” after apparently rejecting calls for the introduction of the Rooney Rule in English football.

Professional Footballers’ Association chief executive Gordon Taylor claims “there is a hidden racism which holds clubs back” with the appointment of black and ethnic minority managers.

Only two out of 92 clubs in English football’s top four divisions employ a black manager after Chris Powell took charge of Huddersfield and Keith Curle joined Carlisle last month and Taylor this week called for English football to adopt the Rooney Rule.

The Rooney Rule is used in the NFL to ensure ethnic minority candidates are adequately represented in the interview process for head coaching positions.

When asked if he felt football was doing enough to bring in black managers and whether he felt a quota should happen, Mourinho said: “There is no racism in football.

“If you are good, you are good. If you are good, you get the job. If you are good, you prove that you deserve the job. Football is not stupid to close the doors to top people.”

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