Jose Mourinho is more than happy to give William Gallas a fresh start at Chelsea - but accepts "every player has his price".

The 28-year-old France defender failed to link up with the rest of the Blues squad for the recent pre-season trip to the United States following the World Cup.

Gallas has been reported as wanting out of Stamford Bridge and felt the club were standing in his way of a potential move - with Arsenal said to be monitoring the situation.

Although now back in training, Mourinho will not include the player for this weekend's Community Shield against Liverpool at the Millennium Stadium.

However, the Chelsea boss insists Gallas can have a future with the Premiership champions.

He said: "The only difference between the situation with (Ashley) Cole and Gallas is that Arsenal have an offer to buy Cole and Chelsea do not have any offers to buy Gallas. That is the real difference.

"When I saw the quotes from his people that Chelsea have blocked his way to leaving, that is not a possibility because there have been no offers.

"I am always looking for different challenges and to have an unhappy player is a new experience for me. Of course I will keep him here.

"At the moment he is not an option for the Liverpool game, but that might change for the Manchester City match."

Mourinho, though, added: "Am I being fair to him? Every player has a price and the people who set the price are the club, not the player."

Looking towards the future, the Chelsea boss reflected: "It is important for me that he is now behaving very well.

"He trained well with the reserves and he is doing some work individually with Claude Makelele and the fitness coach, so he is being very professional.

"That is what is most important for me - today and tomorrow is more important than yesterday."