Jose Mourinho is confident Chelsea's summer signings Andre Schurrle and Marco van Ginkel will be able to make an impact in the Premier League, when the new season gets underway next month.

The Portuguese tactician started his second spell as the Blues boss with his first training sessions this week and is now preparing the squad for their pre-season tour of Asia. The west London outfit had brought in Germany forward Schurrle from Bayer Leverkusen and Dutch midfielder van Ginkel from Vitesse Arnhem very early this summer and the 50-year-old is happy with the business the club has done.

"Andre Schurrle is still so young but he already has great history because he plays in his national team, he has played Champions League and he played three complete seasons for Leverkusen. So he is a player who is absolutely ready and he gives us more than one position in attack and adds quality. He will be important for us," Mourinho stressed.

Jose Mourinho
Chelsea FC

"Marco van Ginkel is one of the best prospects. He is not yet like Schurrle - close to being a finished product - but he is a player with great potential. Of course he needs to play and he will, because he is a player with great potential and physically he is more than ready. He is a natural athlete," the manager said about the 20-year-old.

Mourinho also showered praise on veteran goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer, who left Blues' cross-town rivals Fulham and joined the ranks at Stamford Bridge as a back-up for Chelsea No.1 Petr Cech. The club had released stoppers Henrique Hilario and Ross Turnbull this summer, while Thibaut Courtois will spend a third consecutive season on loan at Atletico Madrid.

"Mark Schwarzer is what we need. Mark knows that he comes to be an important member of the squad, to compete with Petr and to give us in that position what we have in any other position where we have competition and options, giving protection to each other," the Portuguese added

Chelsea will kick off their new Premier League campaign against newly promoted Hull City on 17 August.

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