Chelsea target three superstars for title challenge

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The Chelsea head coach will strengthen in all areas after injuries wrecked the club's bid for a Premiership hat-trick.

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Hot shot: Samuel Eto'o is expected to leave Barca in the summer and Chelsea have already shown an interest in the striker

The injury to captain John Terry midway through the season was a huge blow as it forced Mourinho to use midfielder Michael Essien as a centre-half.

Chelsea's casualties also included goalkeeper Petr Cech, full-back Ashley Cole, midfielders Joe Cole, Arjen Robben, John Obi Mikel and Michael Ballack, plus striker Andriy Shevchenko.

Mourinho has claimed he is struggling to find 16 fit players for Saturday's FA Cup Final against United, joking he might be forced to use third-choice goalkeeper Hilario as a substitute striker at Wembley.

Chairman Bruce Buck confirmed today Chelsea will bolster their squad, particularly as leading scorer Didier Drogba, Essien and Mikel will be on African Cup duty next winter.

Among their targets are Barcelona striker Samuel Eto'o, Valencia forward David Villa, Manchester City full-back Micah Richards, AC Milan defender Kakha Kaladze and Spurs striker Dimitar Berbatov.

"Everyone recognises in light of what we've been through this year, we'll probably need another central defender, maybe a striker and maybe a midfielder," Buck said.

"The fact we could lose five players for up to six weeks to the African Nations Cup must also be taken into account. We could be stretched in January."

However, Buck insisted the club would not be held to ransom over the fees by rivals looking to cash in on owner Roman Abramovich's billions.

He said Chelsea had wanted to sign a centre-half during Terry's lay-off but the prices quoted for their targets were too high.

"There's one price for Mr Abramovich and another for everyone else," he said.

"Even the person who sells us milk thinks we pay twice per pint than anyone else. We have to stop that."

Chelsea posted losses of £80million in February. Despite that, Buck said he thought they were on track to be 'nonloss making' but possibly not by 2010.

"A lot of it will depend on big-money transfers, the less of those we make the easier it will be to meet our plan," he said.