Chelsea should have axed Mourinho for Klopp - Burley

Former Chelsea midfielder Craig Burley believes the Premier League champions should have fired Jose Mourinho in favour of Jurgen Klopp while they could have.

Klopp was appointed Liverpool manager last week following Brendan Rodgers' sacking, but Burley feels Chelsea missed an opportunity to swap the controversial Mourinho for the German.

Mourinho's touchline and off-field antics have been questioned, with the Portuguese boss receiving a £50,000 fine on top of a suspended one-match stadium ban following his comments after Chelsea's defeat to Southampton on October 3.

The loss left Chelsea languishing just four points above the relegation zone, and 10 points behind leaders Manchester City, after eight matches this season.

In an interview with talkSPORT, Burley - who won the 1996-97 FA Cup with Chelsea - said: "A couple of weeks ago when all this nonsense was going on [with Mourinho], I said that Chelsea should get rid of this guy now.

"Klopp was out there, he was going to go to Liverpool, and Chelsea should have gone and got him. That didn't happen and clearly it wasn't going to happen but that was my opinion of what they should have done. I would have gone and got him.

"I was not saying Mourinho should go because of a few bad results. I was basing it on the fact that Chelsea are a global brand and the way Mourinho was acting, behaving and speaking outside of the 90 minutes of football was dragging the club, the players and their image through the mud.

"Managers can get bad results, but Mourinho has to have a look at himself in terms of the way he handles things. It is not everyone else's fault all the time."

The controversial trainer will look to ease the pressure on himself and his team when Chelsea host Aston Villa in the Premier League on Saturday.