Juan Mata is on the verge of securing a move to Old Trafford in an agreement that leaves all parties involved happy but could have some dire consequences for the Blues in the long term. The Spain international has been Chelsea’s Player of the Year in the last two years but the second coming of Jose Mourinho changed his role to a luxury on the bench the Portuguese was never so keen on utilizing often.
During his two-year sojourn in London, Mata became a fan favorite and played an instrumental role in helping Chelsea win their first Champions League title and then last season, rallied them to a Europa League triumph.
The former Valencia man is not the type of player who should be warming the bench on a regular basis.The case is pretty much clear given that this is a World Cup year in which players are very keen on playing regular football in order to earn their way to the tournament. Despite his love for Chelsea, Mata is taking a much safer bet by casting his lot to a club where his talents will be appreciated more.
Mata sale to help Chelsea?
From day one, it was clear that Mata is not a Mourinho type player so no matter how many assists he provided, he would never feature prominently in the starting eleven. Getting 40 million pounds for a player they did not need is definitely good bit of business from Chelsea’s perspective. Moreover, it’s not as if Chelsea are going to take a financial hit by selling Mata as the player was brought from Valencia for 23.5 million pounds.
Financial Fair Play conundrum
In short, Chelsea have made profit that will definitely help the club a lot considering the fact that they are one of the few clubs in Europe that are far behind compliance of UEFA Financial Fair Play rules. After acquiring Nemanja Matic and offsetting the expenditure by selling Kevin De Bruyne to VfL Wolfsburg, Chelsea have signal their intentions for FFP which is likely to come down hard on clubs that are still not taking the regulations seriously enough.
Spending on a cheaper replacement
When the transfer is complete, Chelsea will be around 40 million pounds richer and will thus be in a good position to secure the services of a player who has characteristics that Mourinho likes. The Blues have already agreed with FC Basel over the sale of young Egyptian forward Mohamed Salah who at the age of 21, is the kind of player Mourinho can mold according to his choice. Chelsea will reportedly pay the Swiss giants 12 million pounds for the versatile midfielder.
The flipside
A former employee coming back to haunt his former club is not a new phenomenon which means that despite getting a lot of money for him, there is still a huge chance that Juan Mata comes back to haunt Chelsea every time he faces them. Given his qualities, Mata is not the kind of player who will underperform against the big teams and Chelsea being in that category, will now face the Spaniard more often than not.
Lesson from the past
Last January, Daniel Sturridge was sold to Liverpool. Paired up with Luis Suarez, the England international has formed one of the most lethal strike partnerships in the country, something Chelsea would love to have given their strikers’ less than lethal outings (apart from the Samuel Eto’o hat trick). And with the likes of Rooney and van Persie to play ahead of him, there is a likelihood of Mata reinvigorating himself as one of the best players in his position in England.
