Mourinho Addresses Rumours Of Pursuit of £50m+ Former Arsenal Target

Jose Mourinho has insisted that Chelsea won't pursue Napoli forward Gonzalo Higuain, after Arsenal failed to land the Argentine in the summer.

Reports had suggested the Blues were preparing a second bid for the former Real Madrid striker who has gone from strength to strength with Scudetto hopefuls Napoli while the west London side struggle in front of goal.

But Mourinho insists that Higuain isn't high on Chelsea's list of transfer targets this January, explaining that he doesn't think Napoli would be willing to part with the man who has scored 13 times for them this season.

The Blues manager described Higuain as "a player I know we cannot get."

He continued: "Napoli want to win the Scudetto, they want to win the Europa League. I don't believe they're interested in selling Higuain."

Arsenal were strongly linked with a move for Higuain throughout the summer and while the forward admitted he would have liked to move to the Emirates having fallen out of favour at Madrid, Arsene Wenger chose to pursue Luis Suarez instead.

Suarez ended up staying at Liverpool and the Gunners manager has since been forced to utilise striker Nicklas Bendtner on a number of occasions. Meanwhile Higuain has starred at Napoli, helping the side to third place in the Serie A table and hoping to push Roma and Juventus for the title as the season progresses.

Reports were circulating claiming that the 26 year old, who cost Napoli £34.5m, would now be worth in excess of £50m and that Roman Abramovich was willing to equal the British transfer record, set when Chelsea purchased Fernando Torres in January 2011, in order to land the striker.