Jose Mourinho
Jose Mourinho is expected to join Chelsea after leaving Real Madrid. Reuters

There is much speculation that Jose Mourinho is already planning a summer transfer splurge at Chelsea, even though there has yet to be any confirmation that the outgoing Real Madrid boss will take over at Stamford Bridge. Madrid confirmed earlier this week that Mourinho will be leaving after three years at the Bernabeu and it is widely expected that he will be rejoining Chelsea -- a club he managed to two Premier League titles during his previous spell in charge between 2004 and 2007.

And according to the Daily Mail, Mourinho is looking to bring Cristiano Ronaldo with him to west London. The Portuguese forward has been the subject of incessant rumors over his future for much of the season, with a return to Manchester United mooted. It has always appeared unlikely that the Premier League champions could afford a player who they sold for £80 million four years ago, however. And that is a view shared by the man who signed Ronaldo, former Real Madrid president Ramon Calderon.

“Ronaldo said he was sad at the beginning of the season,” he told TalkSport. “I think the relationship with the current president is not a good one, maybe because the president doesn’t like the players he inherited. There are not many teams that could afford to pay him what he deserves and who can pay Real Madrid what they are asking for. There are three clubs -- Manchester City, PSG and Chelsea. I don’t think any other club is going to pay that amount of money for a player.”

Ronaldo will enter the final two years of his contract this summer and Real will doubtless want him to sign an extension before his transfer value begins to decline. “They [Real] are going to negotiate the contract now and they will make a decision,” Calderon added. “It’s something we will know in a few weeks.”

Yet, a major hindrance to any deal could well be Mourinho’s relationship with Ronaldo that is believed to have declined along with the manager’s rapport with the majority of the Madrid squad. That may also be an issue with the Mail’s assertion that Mourinho is keen to sign Raphael Varane.

The young French central defender has been a revelation with Madrid this season, stepping into the side in the second half of the campaign and putting in a string of outstanding performances. The fact that he has been trusted ahead of the more experienced Pepe may mean that Varane is one of the few members of Madrid’s squad that is still talking to Mourinho.

For much of the past season, Atletico Madrid striker Radamel Falcao has been viewed as Chelsea’s leading target. The Daily Mirror reports that Mourinho is also extremely keen to see the Colombian at Stamford Bridge. Mourinho’s hopes of landing Falcao cannot be harmed by the fact that he shares an agent, Jorge Mendes, with Falcao. The path to his signature looks far from smooth, however. It is widely believed that Monaco have already offered to meet the 27-year-old’s €60 million (£51.4m) buyout clause, with reports that Manchester City are prepared to do likewise.

If Chelsea miss out on the prolific striker, the Mirror claims that they will turn their attentions back to Brazilian forward Hulk. The Blues were heavily linked to the 26-year-old before being priced out of a move as he was sold to Zenit St Petersburg for €55 million (£47m). Things have not gone overly smoothly for Hulk in Russia, though, and it is not unimaginable that he could leave after just a year. The main doubt about the Mirror’s report is that Hulk plays as a wide forward cutting in from the right and is rarely deployed as a central striker.

Follow Jason Le Miere on Twitter