Despite his seemingly acrimonious departure from Chelsea, José Mourinho has maintained regular contact via text message with many at Stamford Bridge, from senior players to boardroom directors. Those exchanges took on a more meaningful tone yesterday after Mourinho’s introduction as coach at Inter Milan, with the Portuguese claiming that most of the Chelsea players would want to follow him to Italy.

It was not an idle boast, given his popularity in the dressing-room at Stamford Bridge, but it is expected that Mourinho will pursue only a couple of his former players. The expectation in Milan is that Ricardo Carvalho and Michael Essien would be his first picks, although there is a place waiting for Frank Lampard at the San Siro if he turns down the lucrative contract on the table from Chelsea.

Mourinho, 45, would also love to work again with Didier Drogba, but he already has a cluttered roster of forwards in Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Adriano and Hernán Crespo. Other names on the shopping list include Deco, with whom he won the Champions League at FC Porto and who is expected to leave Barcelona this summer, and Ricardo Quaresma, the Portugal winger now at Porto, but Mourinho denied that he would be making wholesale changes to the Italian champions even if he enjoys the financial backing of Massimo Moratti, the Inter president and oil tycoon.

“I like the players that we have,” Mourinho said after signing a three-year contract. “They’re a beautiful team. I don’t need a dramatic change. I think we need two or three players to improve and be more competitive.”

Mourinho explained that most of the Chelsea players would want to follow him to the San Siro. “I think it’s normal that, as a consequence of the relationship I have with the Chelsea players, that almost all of them want to work with me in the future and it’s the same for me,” he said.

The force of his personality may tempt them, but it will also take big money to prise them away; less so in Lampard’s case, given that he has only a year left on his contract, but certainly for Essien and Carvalho. “Common sense has to prevail,” Marco Branca, the Inter sporting director, said, arguing that Chelsea could not hold the Italians to ransom if players wanted to come.

Speaking at a press conference at Inter’s tranquil training ground outside Milan, Mourinho emphasised that he was not out to cause trouble with Chelsea just for the sake of it. He has repaired his relationship with Roman Abramovich since his departure nine months ago, aided by a gift of a rare Ferrari from the Russian. “Chelsea is over for me — not in my heart, but in my thoughts,” he said. “I will always support them but if Chelsea meet Inter in the Champions League, then I won’t know any of them.”

He has replaced Roberto Mancini, who was dismissed last Thursday despite leading his team to the title in the past three seasons. Mancini failed to bring European success to the San Siro and the club have identified Mourinho, a Champions League winner with Porto and twice a semifinalist with Chelsea, as the man who can bring the European Cup to Inter for the first time since 1965.

Mourinho did admit that he was dropping down in one respect. “At the moment, Serie A is not the best championship in the world,” he said. “But I think Serie A can take a road that will take it to being the best championship in the world again like in the 1980s and ’90s. This is a motivation for me. This is the start of a new life for Inter. We have to forget what we have won — that is history. We need to have new aims.” He has three years to win the Champions League.

A manager in vogue

Milan: the perfect home for a manager who treats the touchline as his catwalk. He never did the quadruple in England, but José Mourinho will no doubt embrace the Quadrilatero, the city's famous shopping district.

The terrace chant had it that Mourinho's famous grey cashmere coat was from Matalan, but it was really Armani. The company has its headquarters in Milan and its flagship store is about five miles from the San Siro. Giorgio Armani is an Inter Milan fan who has praised Mourinho's “great sense of style”.

Footballers often feature in Milan shows - the likes of Christian Vieri, Luis Figo and even David James have modelled.

Mourinho auctioned off the grey coat for charity in 2006 - it raised £22,000. Anyway, Armani declared recently that black is back. The Portuguese replaced it with a waterproof number by another Italian designer, Ermenegildo Zegna.