Mourinho: I'd axe £30m Shevchenko and leave Chelsea if Abramovich made me pick him

Jose Mourinho has told Andriy Shevchenko he is prepared to axe him from his Chelsea side.

In an extraordinary, wide-ranging interview with Sportsmail, the Chelsea manager said he has "nine untouchable players" in his team — but his £30million striker is not currently among them.

He also insisted he would walk away if club owner Roman Abramovich pressurised him to select the troubled Ukrainian.

"I play the best players at the time," he said, naming his "untouchables" as Claude Makelele, Michael Essien, Frank Lampard, Michael Ballack, John Terry, Ricardo Carvalho, Ashley Cole, Didier Drogba and Petr Cech.

He added: "Sheva's not untouchable because of the way he's playing."

Mourinho quashed rumours his record signing is in the side only because of Abramovich, insisting he had never tried to influence team selection.

Asked if the Russian billionaire had demanded to see his favourite player in the team, he replied: "Are you being serious?"

Would he quit if it happened? "For sure. Roman is very intelligent. He would never do this. If he does this, it's because he doesn't trust the manager. If he doesn't trust the manager he has enough money to sack me, give me compensation, send me home and bring another one in.

"Is he happy with me? Yes. He respects me and my options. The day he doesn't respect me, just give me the cheque and send me home."