Mata is moving to take rooney's place. No way will he sign a new contract so long tterm this is just a shift sideways as united will not be adding players.

Stupid move by mourinho though, could have got similar money of PSG for him in the summer or Jan.

United are not rivalling Chelsea this season, that's all that is currently relevant with regard to this deal.
Even with selling Mata Chelsea have the stronger squad and they'll buy a striker either in this window or the next.

Tactics wrote:

Some of you are willing to strengthen a rival if it means you make a little more profit than you are likely to make elsewhere, I'm of the opinion that you should under no circumstances strengthen a rival. We'll never agree, so let's leave it there.

My point was simply that, from Mourinho's pov, if you don't rate Mata all that highly then why turn down an exceptionally good offer for the player, even from a rival?

y va marquer wrote:

United are not rivalling Chelsea this season, that's all that is currently relevant with regard to this deal.
Even with selling Mata Chelsea have the stronger squad and they'll buy a striker either in this window or the next.

That's a very short sighted way of looking at it IMO. United finished last season with around 20 points more than Chelsea and have finished ahead of them for the past what, 4 years? United don't stop being a rival just because Chelsea are currently 12 points ahead of them, things change quickly in football. Now's it the time to let them rot. Don't give them a helping a hand.

But as I said, let's agree to disagree on this.

Timothy wrote:
Tactics wrote:

Some of you are willing to strengthen a rival if it means you make a little more profit than you are likely to make elsewhere, I'm of the opinion that you should under no circumstances strengthen a rival. We'll never agree, so let's leave it there.

My point was simply that, from Mourinho's pov, if you don't rate Mata all that highly then why turn down an exceptionally good offer for the player, even from a rival?

Bacause it might come back to bite you. And in this case we are talking about a giant of the game that is struggling, do all what you can to make them struggle even more and get them out of the picture for some time.

And the offer isn't that exceptionally good anyway as I can see Mata going elsewhere for around 30m, maybe even more than that if we are dealing with the likes of Spurs or Liverpool.

But if you're Mourinho you probably back your judgement of the player and that selling Mata won't come back to bite you.

He's not rated Mata for years, was even quite critical of him when he left Valencia for Chelsea.

Tactics wrote:
y va marquer wrote:

United are not rivalling Chelsea this season, that's all that is currently relevant with regard to this deal.
Even with selling Mata Chelsea have the stronger squad and they'll buy a striker either in this window or the next.

That's a very short sighted way of looking at it IMO. United finished last season with around 20 points more than Chelsea and have finished ahead of them for the past what, 4 years? United don't stop being a rival just because Chelsea are currently 12 points ahead of them, things change quickly in football. Now's it the time to let them rot. Don't give them a helping a hand.

But as I said, let's agree to disagree on this.

Made the point previously that Mourinho manages short term style.
It will take more than Mata to transform this United side and Chelsea still have a stronger base of players to build upon this summer.

He's looking at things wrongly IMO, he isn't looking at the bigger picture. That is my point.

Anyway, we'll see in a few months time how influential this signing will prove for United.

y va marquer wrote:
Tactics wrote:

That's a very short sighted way of looking at it IMO. United finished last season with around 20 points more than Chelsea and have finished ahead of them for the past what, 4 years? United don't stop being a rival just because Chelsea are currently 12 points ahead of them, things change quickly in football. Now's it the time to let them rot. Don't give them a helping a hand.

But as I said, let's agree to disagree on this.

Made the point previously that Mourinho manages short term style.
It will take more than Mata to transform this United side and Chelsea still have a stronger base of players to build upon this summer.

Chelsea will struggle to compete with United when FFP kicks in. That's something he should think about if he's planning to stay at Chelsea for the coming 12 years as he's been telling everyone recently.

I think you just rate the player a lot higher than Mourinho does.

Or I just happen to see the danger in strengthening a rival that is in what's looking like a crisis.

No, it's what I said.

y va marquer wrote:

Mourinho doesn't want Mata and Chelsea are fine with letting him go to United because United are willing to pay £37m, which is more than anyone else would pay for him.

I'm not saying they need the money obviously, but even in mad spending Abramovich land the offer of huge money for a squaddie would be hard to turn down.

Even if he doesn't want him, why sell him to Man United? I see what you're saying about 37M being quite a lot of money, but selling one of the best players in the PL elsewhere for quite a hefty fee couldn't possibly have been that hard. If this deal doesn't somehow involve Rooney, I'll be absolutely amazed.

Timothy wrote:

I think you just rate the player a lot higher than Mourinho does.

What about you timbo? how you feeling about good ol' mata?

way i see it they're overpaying but he does suit moyes so maybe they're gonna get more out of him than chelsea ever could.

also people focus on the fact that he's spanish and short but i think he has a great understanding of the long ball. manu were always about using the long ball in intelligent ways. i can see him working well with their other players.

Mata would probably have been available for half of what he's going for now, in the summer. As Timbo mentioned, United are offering a ridiculous amount for a Chelsea squad player. If we were in the same position I'm pretty sure we would have accepted the offer. But, if Chelsea don't win anything this season the decision to sell could look very silly.

If we really are prepared to offer 35 million for Draxler, would it be better if we offered that for Mata?

Fantastic.Mr.Fox wrote:

Mata would probably have been available for half of what he's going for now, in the summer.

Fantastic.Mr.Fox wrote:

Mata would probably have been available for half of what he's going for now, in the summer. As Timbo mentioned, United are offering a ridiculous amount for a Chelsea squad player. If we were in the same position I'm pretty sure we would have accepted the offer. But, if Chelsea don't win anything this season the decision to sell could look very silly.

If we really are prepared to offer 35 million for Draxler, would it be better if we offered that for Mata?

Only that Chelsea wouldnt sell to us, wouldnt even loan us Demba Ba.