Chelsea: Jose Mourinho wants a letter of thanks from the French federation for finding the best young defenders in the world

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho believes that the French football federation should thank him for finding the two best young defenders in the world

The Blues boss was referring to French duo Kurt Zouma, who currently plays for Chelsea and Raphael Varane, the defender Mourinho signed during his spell at Real Madrid.

"I think the French Football Federation should write a letter to me and thank me for the two best young defenders in the world in Varane and Zouma," Mourinho said, as quoted by French newspaper Le10 Sport.

The former Saint-Etienne player joined Chelsea during the 2014 January transfer window, but remained on loan with the Ligue 1 club until the end of the season, and joined up with his new teammates at the start of the current campaign.

After spending most of the season on the bench, he has finally broken into the first-team, with Mourinho picking him over regular centre-back Gary Cahill for two important clashes against Manchester City in the Premier League and Liverpool in the semi-finals of the League Cup.

The manager believes that the 20-year-old defender can only get better in the coming years and feels that he has been brilliant every time he has featured for the league leaders this season.

"Zouma? This is a player who can only improve and become stronger. He was brilliant every time he played for us," the Blues boss explained.

Varane, on the other hand, is a regular member of the Real starting lineup under Carlo Ancelotti and the Portuguese manager is a big admirer of the defender, whom he signed in 2011 from Lens.

Mourinho revealed that he saw the French international on a DVD that was brought by Zinedine Zidane and was immediately impressed.

"Zinedine Zidane arrived with a DVD and I immediately thought "this player with two years of work with us, could be fantastic"" the former Real Madrid manager added.

The Chelsea boss has been heavily linked with a move for the former Lens player and earlier in the month, there were reports that suggested a summer move for Varane, as Mourinho had lost faith in Cahill.