Chelsea manager Mourinho refuses to let Salah go

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has dismissed talk that Mohamed Salah is set to leave the club during the January transfer window.

Salah was signed from Basel in the corresponding window last year, but has found regular first-team opportunities hard to come by with the likes of Eden Hazard, Willian and Oscar all ahead of him in the pecking order at Stamford Bridge.

In almost a year in west London, Salah has made just 13 Premier League appearances and Besiktas are understood to be keen on acquiring the Egypt international, with the Turkish club's president Fikret Orman recently confirming he was in talks with Chelsea chiefs over a possible deal for a mystery player, understood to be Salah.

"I was in England and held talks with Chelsea but it would be wrong to disclose who the negotiations were regarding," he is quoted as saying by the Daily Star.

Salah was an unused substitute for Chelsea's 5-0 hammering of Swansea City on Saturday, but Mourinho later refuted any suggestions that Salah would be allowed to move on.

"He can't leave, I have 20 players today with Didier [Drogba] a bit ill and [Cesar] Azpilicueta injured," the manager said.

"I had all my players here today, just [Nathan] Ake in the stands.

"I have a very short squad, I need everybody. For Salah to leave someone has to come, and I don't think we are going to let Salah go on loan and then spend some money to bring somebody else in.

"So I don't think so, unless my club comes to me and says Salah goes on loan and we are going to buy a €65 million player."