Jose Mourinho: John Terry and Gary Cahill convinced me to sign Radamel Falcao for Chelsea

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has revealed he sought the advice of centre halves John Terry and Gary Cahill before signing Radamel Falcao on loan.

Falcao, 29, spent last season on loan at Manchester United from Monaco and led his side's attack during their visit to Stamford Bridge in April.

Mourinho's boys secured a hard-fought 1-0 win courtesy an Eden Hazard winner in that game, but the Colombia international was denied a goal of his own by the woodwork.

While that performance was not enough to convince United to make his loan stay at Old Trafford a permanent one, Mourinho says Falcao left a positive impression on his defenders that day.

"I watched our game against Manchester United a few times," Mourinho said, Sky Sports reports. "I spoke with John and Gary a lot about him and we think the bright movement is there, the movement to get freedom in the box to score goals is there.

"Our players had difficulty controlling him and we feel the potential is there. Let's see if he can improve his confidence, his happiness."

While Chelsea enjoyed their success last season operating with one up front, Mourinho insists he is not adverse to getting Atletico Madrid's old strike force back together at Stamford Bridge.

"He can be second, first or third [choice]," Mourinho said: "He knows, Diego [Costa] knows and [Loïc] Remy knows that. It is an open competition between the three of them. That's our objective, that's why we want three strikers ready and important.

"If we want, we can play with Costa and him together – it is something they did before when they were in Atletico. Can he be the Falcao of Atletico? We believe so.

"Every team has their style of play and every manager has their way of football. If [Louis]Van Gaal didn't play him more it's because he had his ideas and we have to respect that."