The Manchester United Thread

Mike. said:
Mata is certainly no luxury. He is one of several key areas of renewal. Of course you can keep Januzaj out, needs a rest and can play either flank

You do what we did 2006-2009. Got your key players and strong "understudies", you rotate, keep em fresh without losing quality, you allow yourself to be covered in case one of your big players gets hurt.

He's going to be at the expense of Young. NOOOOO WHATEVER SHALL WE DO??
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We're obviously going to crumble even more as a team since Mata seems to have managed to acquired the ability to single handedly bring down his own team's defence just from his mere presence.
 
I know I have come on this thread a few times now bigging up Juan but I just want to say one more thing after the letter he put up for all the Chelsea fans to read. Once again he showed what a truly classy guy he is and took time out to thank every single part of Chelsea football club and did not have one bad thing to say. Usually players leaving Chelsea doesn't get me too emotional but that letter brought a couple of tears to my eyes. I really hope every single Manchester utd fan will enjoy watching him play in you're clubs colours just as much as all us Chelsea fans did. He is a real gem of a player and the way he has conducted himself after leaving has just made my love for him grow even more.
 
iNickStuff said:
In fairness, since joining Chelsea in 2011/12, Mata has scored 16 goals and got 20 assists in all competitions on both wings, excluding the middle. He can play efficiently on the flanks.
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iNickStuff said:
In fact, Mata spent the majority of his first season at Chelsea playing on the left and right, and ended up with 11 goals and 17 assists in 35 league games alone.
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Yeah but have a look where Chelsea finished the league in his first season. As a whole it wasn't working that well for them as a team. And then it was the same under Di Matteo who played the '3 hobbit band' and kept being murdered down the wings. It took Benitez to put Mata permanently in the middle before Chelsea started looking somewhat solid defensively.
 
Joel` said:
Considering he's only had 1 season where he actually played as a CAM, and he's only 25, good luck trying to prove that the upturn was positional related and not just his age improvement as a player.
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I'd say it was part positional and part Rafa giving him free role with no defensive duties.
 
zzeezzy said:
Yes obviously, I'm not one of the people moaning about Mata's defensive capabilities all of a sudden jsut because the "Annoying" one has brought it up, so it must be right.

Anyway, I love Mata, as a person he seems great and as a player obviously. This signing is a luxury one though. He's going to be at the expense of 1/2 players. My guess is it's good bye Kagawa and Young at the end of season. Can't keep Rooney out... can't keep RVP out... can't keep our player of season so far (Januzaj) out too much either, even though he does need a rest.

My point is how do you fit him in amongst all these plethora of talent! Unless you just dispose of a player.
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are you ever happy?
 
Perhaps the most intriguing part of the long, complex process that finally led to a helicopter carrying Juan Mata arriving at Manchester United's training ground on Saturday is that a ?37.1m deal can be arranged without as much as a telephone call between the clubs. Several months of positioning, mutual suspicion and political bargaining, and everything was done without a single word being exchanged in person.

Chelsea certainly tried. On more than one occasion, a message reached Ed Woodward, United's chief executive, that the relevant people at Stamford Bridge were open to sitting at the other side of the negotiating table. Each time, he politely declined. Everybody in football knows Chelsea want to sign Wayne Rooney and Woodward reasoned that it would be virtually impossible to keep them sweet on Mata while also informing them they could forget about anything happening the other way.

Instead, the background to the Mata deal is a case study about how complicated and sensitive these big-money arrangements can be, and an insight into the high influence of agents in the modern business. Without them, both clubs recognise the chances of the deal going through were nonexistent. Seven different agents approached United since August to say they could make it happen. As it turned out, they used Mata's father, Juan senior, and Colin Pomford, a Madrid-based agent who specialises in Spanish business going back to Steve McManaman's time at Liverpool and, later, the Rafael Ben?tez era.

What has never come out before is that United first heard Mata was open to leaving Chelsea, and keen on moving to Manchester, late in the August transfer window, after he had picked up strong vibes from Jos? Mourinho that he would be used only sparingly. Woodward never actively followed it up because of the Rooney situation. He did, however, establish that David Moyes liked the player.

Their next information – after the window closed – was that Mata was so unhappy he had been to see the top people at Chelsea, among them Roman Abramovich, and been given a verbal agreement that if he carried on being left out of the team, and maintained his professionalism, he would be allowed to leave in January. Chelsea would later harden that into a written agreement that included a €45m buyout and – possibly still thinking about the Rooney issue – one proviso: that the figure could not be activated by United.

That could easily have been the end of the deal. Except Mata and his father went back to Stamford Bridge, once it became clear there was interest from Old Trafford, and asked for the condition to be removed. One of the people involved in the negotiations has told this newspaper that Mata and Abramovich are "almost like friends". Mata had kept to his side, bar one fit of pique after being substituted, and Abramovich respected that.
Chelsea gave him a verbal promise, but nothing in writing, and then sent a message, via Pomford, that maybe it was time the two clubs met face to face. Woodward said no. He simply did not want to risk changing the temperature by getting involved in any talks about Rooney and, with nothing in writing, he was not willing to take any chances about the price suddenly going up.

A separate message came back to United that Chelsea would welcome an official bid on a specific day. Woodward declined again. Instead, his lawyers faxed through a "transfer agreement" informing Chelsea that United had met the buy-out clause and would pay the money, as stipulated, in three parts.

But the game of cat and mouse continued. Chelsea indicated again they wanted to talk and would even let Mata travel to Manchester to take his medical. Except Woodward knew, again, that Rooney would crop up and potentially kibosh the whole deal. "He couldn't risk it," according to one source. So he sat tight, while Mata and the relevant agents went to work behind the scenes. Then Mourinho went public that Mata could leave and that was always going to speed up the process. Finally, the deal was closed on Saturday.

For Woodward, it is the biggest coup of his time in charge at Old Trafford. United have been accused of panic-buying and maybe, in light of the new detail, that is an unfair slant to put on it. The club had, however, advised journalists to "ignore" any speculation about Mata earlier in January, and sources say they still felt as recently as Tuesday that it was far more likely to happen, if at all, in the summer.

If Mata still feels like a strange buy, it is largely because Moyes has insisted for several months that all he wants is a central midfielder and a left-back. Questions about Mata were knocked back on the basis United already had Wayne Rooney and Shinji Kagawa for the No10 position, in line with the club's explanation for not challenging Arsenal for the signature of Mesut ?zil.

So why Mata and not ?zil? Timing, basically. ?zil was offered to United in the first week of the summer transfer window, but Moyes had barely seen Kagawa at that point and wanted to learn more about a player about whom Sir Alex Ferguson had left glowing reports. As it has turned out, Kagawa has been disappointing. United, however, would prefer to keep him for now, not least because Mata is ineligible in the Champions League.

Manchester United keep Chelsea at arm's length before Mata transfer | Daniel Taylor | Football | The Guardian
 
Read that earlier, does seem like for all our fans moaning Woodward actually did a really good job with this one.

Lots of links flying around, Mark Ogden (who broke Fergie's retirement) says we're interested in Felipe Luis of Atletico Madrid and a deal is possible in this window.

I'm really excited for the summer. Grab that top four spot and roll on to the summer.
 
So we actively tried to push him onto United? FFS ... Although I think credit is due to Roman for respecting Juan's wishes. He could easily have pointed to this written agreement and made him sit on the bench for another 6 months. Always good to see a player, especially a fan favourite like Mata, leave on good terms
 
Tyton said:
I'd say it was part positional and part Rafa giving him free role with no defensive duties.
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Yep ... The wingers were asked to track back assiduously so that Mata was relieved of his defensive duties. Rafa essentially built the side around Mata and Mata put in some great performances as well
 
Telegraph reporting that ManUtd and Chelsea are in race to sign Shaw but for 30 Million.

So whom do you prefer with everything considered?

Shaw for 30 Million which we will be paying for potential and might have to start from the word go with out whole back line changing or 12-15 Million for Coentrao who is experienced playing in Euro, World cup, champions league and also massive club like Madrid?

I'm a big fan of Coentrao, I said after Euro 2012 that if given a choice I would pick Coentrao ahead of any LB in the world and I stick by it.
 
Considering match fitness, recent playing time and form, I'd say Luke Shaw over Fabio Coentrao. He's more expensive, but he has a bright future ahead, and more years left to play. Plus, incase we decide, for some reason, that we have to sell him, we can sell him at a reasonably bigger profit. Plus, English, so that's gotta help.

Are there any rumours about Alex Sandro? If not Shaw, I'd want him to be considered, I've always been a fan of Porto's two wide defenders - Danilo and Alex Sandro.
 
Sherkey said:
Considering match fitness, recent playing time and form, I'd say Luke Shaw over Fabio Coentrao. He's more expensive, but he has a bright future ahead, and more years left to play. Plus, incase we decide, for some reason, that we have to sell him, we can sell him at a reasonably bigger profit. Plus, English, so that's gotta help.

Are there any rumours about Alex Sandro? If not Shaw, I'd want him to be considered, I've always been a fan of Porto's two wide defenders - Danilo and Alex Sandro.
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I don't think we are linked with him at all. I mean Alex Sandro.

Latest rumor is we are linked with Filipe Luis.
 
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