Jose Mourinho said a decision on the future of Fernando Torres would only be taken once the Chelsea manager meets the Spanish international striker face to face, while the Portuguese also warned the Blues old guard not to expect any favors from him.
Torres is one of the players who have been tipped to leave Stamford Bridge in the summer, with Chelsea looking to bring the likes of Hulk and Edinson Cavani to the club.
The Spaniard expressed his happiness at Chelsea, saying he wanted to honor the remaining three years in his contract, and Mourinho said a decision would be made once Torres returns from the Confederations Cup with Spain.
"While Fernando, Juan Mata and Cesar Azpilicueta are with the national team I don't want to contact them as I don't want to be misinterpreted," Mourinho told reporters during his unveiling press conference. "I have to wait until the end of the Confederations Cup, after that I will speak with him.
"He's a Chelsea player, he has a contract and he expressed himself already and said he wants to stay and work hard. He deserves that respect from me and from the club especially.
"The respect starts with speaking to him face to face and deciding what is best for all of us. If the best for all of us is for Fernando to stay then we will help him and get the best out of him."
While Torres' future remains unclear, there is little doubt that the likes of Frank Lampard and John Terry will relish having their favorite manager back at the helm.
However, Mourinho insisted there will be no special treatment for his former players.
"Of course there are still a few boys from my time before and it is always good to see these people that gave absolutely everything to me when I was here, but it is important to say that there is no privilege for them -- but they know that already because they know my nature," Mourinho added. "They don't have an advantage over the other people.
"After that there is a group of boys that Chelsea did very well in the past years to get, with great quality, potential and a great future. I will be happy to work with them and try to improve them.
"Then after that, every club, especially a club like us, has the ambition to add a couple of new players to give some different qualities and to increase the competition in the squad, but I think the most important part of the job at the moment is around the improvement of the boys with big potential. I think I have the conditions to do that and I am more than happy to help."
Mourinho, however, did admit Terry would remain club captain despite the veteran defender being increasingly marginalized during Rafa Benitez's tenure last season.
"I will talk only about the future. Benitez's decisions are Benitez's decisions, I am respectful of that," Mourinho said.
"I will meet John in July and try to get the best out of him. I know what he can give, let's try to make him again a very important player, which he couldn't be last season.
"Last time John was the captain by a club decision, because he was born in the club and because of his personality on the pitch. I did a simple consultation with the players trying to feel opinions and everybody agreed.
"At this moment, when you say "my captain," it's not the real word. It's more Chelsea captain, because Chelsea captain is my captain, the board's captain, the fans' captain.
"John is the club captain. I'm more than happy he's the captain, the fans are more than happy he's the captain, so I think he has to be.
"Has he the armband? Only if he plays. If he isn't in the starting 11 he doesn't have the armband, but he's the captain. I didn't think for one second before on this but he has to be and he deserves to be, I'm happy for him to be."
