LONDON -- Jose Mourinho has admitted that surprise Chelsea signing Papy Djilobodji was "not his choice" but expressed full faith in the judgement of his scouts, saying it is "the same thing" as the Portuguese picking the defender.
The Premier League champions had been trailing John Stones for most of the summer only for Everton to stand firm, and turned to Djilobodji, 26, two days before the transfer window closed.
Chelsea ended up bringing in the Senegal defender from Nantes for £2.7 million -- although he has not been included in Mourinho's Champions League squad.
The Portuguese said at his prematch news conference: "It was not my choice. It was the choice of someone I trust completely. Which is the same.
"I don't know every player. My job doesn't allow me to travel and spend hours watching players. In some moments of the market, under certain circumstances, there are moments when you have to trust or not the people you work with.
"In my case, I trust because the same person who told me Djilobodji can be a good squad player was the same person who told me [Kurt] Zouma can be a fantastic player for us. Obviously, I trust him. Djilobodji is one of our four central defenders and hopefully useful for us."
Mourinho was asked why Djilobodji had not been named in the Champions League squad, and argued that Chelsea did not expect to use him in such a short span of six group games.
He said: "If he is in the Champions League squad, [Bertrand] Traore or Kenedy are not in the list. Traore and Kenedy are young players working with us from day one and we believe it can be a fantastic opportunity if they can play a few minutes in the Champions League.
"The group phase has six matches and we need to be very unlucky if we need Djilobodji in the team when we have [John Terry], [Gary] Cahill, Zouma and [Branislav] Ivanovic."
Regarding the controversy over Stones, Mourinho dismissed criticism of Chelsea from Everton manager Roberto Martinez and chairman Bill Kenwright.
He said: "What Martinez says for me means nothing and I don't comment. The only thing I can tell you is that I expect Stones to play with [Phil] Jagielka and we know their qualities and we are going to try to be successful.
"Every game is important and we are in the title race. Yes, we are. We need points but every game is difficult. Everton is not different. Every team is getting better. Every team has economic power and players to play for title contenders. Every point is more difficult to get. We know that. We have every intention to win the match but with respect."