Earlyface

The Europa League holders have confirmed the appointment of the Portuguese for his second spell in charge at Stamford Bridge following a six-year absence
Jose Mourinho has been appointed Chelsea manager on a four-year deal.

The Portuguese coach succeeds Rafael Benitez, who has joined Napoli following his six-month interim spell at Stamford Bridge, in the Blues hot-seat.

Mourinho returns to west London for his second spell as Chelsea manager. Since he left the club less than six years ago, the Blues have been through eight managers when caretakers are included.

Ron Gourlay, Chelsea chief executive, welcomed the 50-year-old back to the club, saying: "I am delighted to welcome Jose back to Chelsea. His continued success, drive and ambition made him the outstanding candidate.

"It is our aim to keep the club moving forward to achieve greater success in the future and Jose is our number one choice as we believe he is the right manager to do just that."

Mourinho was Roman Abramovich's first managerial appointment following his 2003 takeover and his most successful to date. In three seasons at Stamford Bridge, Mourinho delivered two Premier League titles, one FA Cup and two League Cups but did not win the Champions League.

He will hope to rectify that upon his return after the most difficult period of his career at Real Madrid.

Mourinho won the 2011-12 Liga title, ending Barcelona's run of dominance in Spain, but could not progress beyond the semi-finals of the Champions League and conceded the Spanish championship back to Tito Vilanova's team last season.

Abramovich has invested heavily at Chelsea in recent seasons as the team Mourinho helped to construct has aged, and the future looks bright for the two-time Champions League winner's return.

Frank Lampard, John Terry and Petr Cech remain of the key cogs of Mourinho's previous Blues team but the likes of Juan Mata, David Luiz and Eden Hazard lead this side now.

The spending, too, looks set to continue this summer. Goal exclusively revealed that Vitesse midfielder Marco van Ginkel is set to become the first signing of Mourinho's second spell in charge and Andre Schurrle, of Bayer Leverkusen, has been heavily linked with the Blues, while the Europa Legue winners have also entered into negotiations with Roma for their Italy international midfielder Daniele De Rossi.