Mourinho has made no secret of his desire to bring the England midfielder to Italy, but Chelsea have so far not budged in their stance of rejecting all offers for the player.

However, Mourinho suggested that the door is still open for a deal.

"The transfer market is open until August 31 and we need a midfielder," Mourinho said on the opening day of Inter's pre-season training.

"Lampard is a Chelsea player but I have worked really well with him. I also like Ricardo Quaresma but he is at FC Porto.

"I want to work with 22 players at the most, plus the goalkeepers."

Mourinho added that he was looking forward to taking on rivals AC Milan after the Rossoneri agreed a deal to sign Ronaldinho from Barcelona.

"I am happy Milan have signed Ronaldinho because we are all working to make Serie A bigger," he said.