Chelsea's 'shouldn't have sold' XI

Forward

Right-wing - Mohamed Salah

Salah is looking like being Liverpool's best striker since Luis Suarez

Perhaps De Bruyne's only serious challenger for EPL player of the season, Salah has been a revelation since returning to the league with Liverpool. He's fired 30 goals in total in just 36 games. In truth, Salah came nowhere near getting a fair chance during his time at Chelsea.

He was signed from Basel after impressing in the Europe League, even against Chelsea, with his quickness running and trickery a joy to witness. He managed only 13 appearances in 2 seasons at the club, and Mourinho was never going to take a liking to an attacker in the mould of Salah.

The Egyptian took his talents to Italy with Fiorentina and then Roma, with his goals tally increasing each season: after 6 for Fiorentina during his loan spell there, Salah reached double figures in 2015/2016 and 2016/2017 in Rome, becoming one of the league's best players.

While he was always an exciting winger, similar to Messi in his style, Salah adding goals to his game has enabled him to reach a higher level and become a stronger all-rounded footballer. Liverpool fans adore him, his fellow Egyptians idolize him, and Chelsea fans could have done so too if Mourinho hadn't wasted the talents of another attacking player.

Centre-forward - Romelu Lukaku

Fans will be hoping Lukaku recovers his early season form soon

It's become easy to mock this player, but Lukaku has unfairly been turned into a scapegoat for Manchester United's poorer performances this season so far. He swiftly scored 10 goals in his first 9 games, breaking a long-standing record set by Sir Bobby Charlton in the process.

The goals have certainly dried up since then, and Lukaku now only has 12 league goals, but strikers are allowed to have difficult patches.

What can't be denied is that everything is in place for him to be an elite player for many years: Lukaku has such great athleticism, running, and finishing ability, akin to Didier Drogba but with a better scoring record.

He initially exploded onto the scene with Anderlecht aged just 16 and banged in 33 goals before he turned 19. This led to Chelsea securing his services, seeing him as a successor to their club legend Drogba.

In his 2 seasons with them, Lukaku would end up with no goals to show in 15 appearances, a poor record. These were punctuated by a stellar year with West Bromwich Albion, where Lukaku scored 17 league goals.

He moved on loan again, joining Everton, and his 15 league goals convinced them to sign him permanently, for a club record fee of £28 million. He would end his time at Everton with 87 goals in 166 games, just over half a goal-per-game, an excellent rate.

There were talks about Lukaku returning to Chelsea in the summer but Mourinho ultimately won the race to sign him. With the club struggling with new recruit Alvaro Morata up front, perhaps if Lukaku had been given another year to integrate himself at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea could have developed him into their starting forward for many seasons.

Left-wing - Juan Mata

Mata is lucky enough to be a fan favourite at both Manchester United and Chelsea

Perhaps the most unfairly treated player of all by Mourinho, Mata was Chelsea's player of the year in 2012/2013, in the PFA team of the year for that season, was a vital part of the team's triumph in the Europa League, and also was the assist leader in the EPL.

The next season, he was dropped from the first team by his new manager, before being shunted off to rivals Manchester United in the January transfer window. He scored 12 in 35 league appearances in 2012/2013 but would appear only 13 times in 2013/2014, a remarkable comedown.

Mourinho stated that Mata didn't offer the defensive ability that he demanded from all of his midfield players and so the player was dropped without a second thought. Mata has been the creative spark at his new club, scoring 10 goals in his 3 full seasons so far.

Many felt his time would be up when Mourinho joined him at Old Trafford last season but to his credit, Mata knuckled down and helped them to a League Cup and Europa League double. He was a popular figure at Chelsea and has proven to be a popular one in Manchester too, and didn't deserve the treatment he received back then.