Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has insisted that he was handed a 'tough' job returning to Stamford Bridge due to the state of the team that was left behind by interim boss Rafael Benitez.

The Spaniard, who is now in charge of Napoli, managed to guide the Blues to glory in the Europa League final, as well as third place in the Premier League table last season.

Despite bringing success to the West London outfit, Mourinho has claimed that the ex-Liverpool manager was not concerned with building a team for the future as he knew that he would be shown the door.

"I knew it would be tougher [this time]," the London Evening Standard quotes Mourinho as saying. "Some managers choose easy jobs, some tough, I choose a hard one but I enjoy it.

"This is not a criticism but the last manager Benitez knew he would not be the manager for the next year and he was chasing results. He was not worried about the building of a team with a certain style. I didn't have a real base to start. For many reasons we knew the situation needs time and patience."

Chelsea are third in the table, five points adrift of leaders Arsenal.