AITOR KARANKA will speak to Jose Mourinho in order to discuss Kenneth Omeruo and Nathaniel Chalobah’s futures – but the Middlesbrough manager admits it might be best to avoid his former boss for the next couple of days.

Mourinho suffered his fourth successive Champions League semi-final defeat on Wednesday as his Chelsea side crashed to a 3-1 home defeat to Atletico Madrid.

Karanka holds weekly conversations with his managerial mentor, who he assisted at Real Madrid, but will avoid picking up the phone until next week in order to give Mourinho enough time to come to terms with this week’s setback.

“I need to speak to Jose about a few things, but I think it will be for the best if I leave it for today,” said the Boro boss. “After (Wednesday), I’m going to wait at least a week before picking up the phone!

“I speak to him pretty much every week, and hopefully we can work together this summer like we did in January. If they have young players, and it is good for them to loan them out, good for the players to come here, and good for us to have them, then we will work together to try to make it happen.”

Karanka was alongside Mourinho as Real Madrid lost to Borussia Dortmund in last season’s Champions League last four, and has tipped his friend to bounce back from his latest disappointment.

“I felt sorry for Jose because he is a winner and the defeat will have hurt him,” he said. “He always wants to win, and in my opinion he would have deserved to play in this final because it was his fourth semi-final and things have gone against him in the past.

“I know him very well, and he is the strongest man in the world. I know he will overcome this, and knowing him, he will already be working to make sure he wins the Champions League next season.

“They will fight for the Premier League until the last second because that is the way he is. And even though it has not happened this season, I am absolutely convinced that he will win the Champions League again.”