Mourinho hails squad after fantastic work by Chelsea since Munich.

Jose Mourinho has spoken ahead of the start of the Premier League season and has revealed that he is more than happy with his Chelsea squad. He also believes it's a squad that could go on and dominate for the next five to ten years.

He said:

“It’s a squad for tomorrow, for next season and also a squad with big possibilities for the next five, 10 years with so many young people so I like my squad very much.

There is no manager in the world that has the perfect squad. No manager that says ‘My squad is perfect’ or couldn’t improve in certain positions.

The only thing I can say is that I like very much the squad. The club was fantastic because it gave me the three targets I was asking, in the left-back, a midfield player and a striker.

In fact, it gave me two strikers because Didier is also back. So we have the squad that we want to have, we don’t say it’s perfect, we don’t say it’s the best, we say we like very much our squad.”

One year on from when he came back to the club and looking at the squad we have now, you can see how he is taking this club forward.

Much has been made over recent seasons of the need to rejuvenate the squad, to get rid of the "dead wood" that pundits and reporters kept on talking about over and over again and to rebuild for the future.

Many of these people have not or have chosen to ignore the work Chelsea have been doing over the past three or four seasons with the fantastic transfer business that have completed. It's really only being noticed after this years transfer windows back in January and again this past summer. Chelsea have taken major steps to begin the rebuild since we won the Champions League in 2012.

Cast your minds back to the Champions League Final in Munich and the starting eleven we had back then including those either on the bench or in the stands and you can see major change with the majority of them not here anymore and replaced by younger talent.

From the 23 names I have listed below a massive 14 players have left the club - only 9 remain (marked in blue) and those include Didier Drogba who has since left and returned this season.

In Munich or starting eleven was:

Cech, Bosingwa, Luiz, Cahill, Cole, Mikel, Lampard, Kalou, Mata, Bertrand and Drogba.

On the bench:

Turnbull, Ferreira, Essien, Romeu, Malouda, Sturridge and Torres.

In the stands:

Hilario, Terry, Ivanovic, Meireles and Ramires.

It's amazing to think that in the space of two seasons, that many players have moved on from the club after finally achieving what we had all dreamed of for so many years but that's football for you. It never stands still and the game is constantly evolving. If you stand still you get left behind as Man Utd found out to their peril last season.

Just look at the replacements for those fourteen players who have left the club since Munich and you can see the fantastic work the club has been doing since it started it's rebuild process:

Courtois, Azpilicueta, Zouma, Luis, Van Ginkel, Fabregas, Matic, Oscar, Schurrle, Willian, Hazard, Salah, Moses and Costa.

Chelsea really have done some fantastic work to bring the average age of the squad down whilst also making some really good money on players they have decided were no longer required and that's when the critics have really begun to stand up and take notice.

We have seen the likes of Manchester City and PSG punished by UEFA for not complying with the new FFP rules but Chelsea have been working well within those guidelines, whilst rebuilding a squad that Jose Mourinho now has confidence to say are title contenders.

The players (for the most part) are young with the best years of their careers still ahead of them, they are hungry for success and could form the core of a Chelsea team that will strive to reach the level of success the previous squad had in the most successful era of our history. Most importantly of all, they are ready for a real title challenge now.

Can the current squad deliver silverware at the end of the season and beyond?

Only time will tell!