Man Utd hope Mata will kick-start season after clinching 37m pounds deal Chelsea midfielder accepts terms and awaits medical Mourinho will look to use funds to strengthen squad.
Chelsea have accepted a 37 million pounds bid for Juan Mata and immediately released the Spain international to join Manchester United to complete the most dramatic deal of the transfer window. Mata will undergo a medical on Thursday at United before completing the move that will see him more than double his 70,000 pounds-a-week Chelsea salary at Old Trafford.
Chelsea have been braced for a bid since Monday for Mata and finally received the offer triggering their acceptance and the release of the player. The Premier League club are not expecting the 25-year-old to return to them and have made plans for his replacements. A medical has been booked in for today for Mata and personal terms were accepted. United chose a slightly unusual route to lodge their bid, using intermediaries, but Chelsea have accepted the offer as an official one and manager Jose Mourinho has sanctioned the move.
The bid, first revealed by The Daily Telegraph on Monday, came ahead of the champions' Capital One Cup semi-final second-leg tie at home against Sunderland. Mata's father, Juan Snr, and his representatives flew in from Spain yesterday morning after it became apparent an offer would finally be made. They are keen for Mata to make the move after he fell out of favour under Mourinho which has placed his chances of playing for Spain in this summer's World Cup finals under threat. Contrary to claims Mata,
Chelsea's player of the year for the past two seasons, has not had to ask to leave with Mourinho accepting that the scale of United's offer is too big to refuse given his priorities in strengthening his team lie elsewhere. The bid is at a level that it will have been deemed impossible to turn down by the Chelsea board. Mourinho's only stipulation was to make the move happening quickly so he could possibly reinvest ahead of the window closing on Jan 31.
There were indications last night that Chelsea might attempt to hijack Liver-pool's 7 million pounds move for the Basle winger Mohamed Salah. Chelsea's greater priority remains the acquisition of a striker but, despite wanting to sign Wayne Rooney, United will not enter into negotiations. While United continued to publicly deny having submitted an offer for Mata, Chelsea were privately -confirming that a bid had been lodged and accepted.
Negotiations between the two clubs and Mata's representatives progressed well during yesterday and the former Valencia -mid-fielder, who signed for 23.5 million pounds two years ago, is set to surpass -Dimitar Berbatov as United's record signing today, subject to a successful medical.
Chelsea were also privately confirming last night that they did not expect Mata to return to the club and that he had agreed terms to go. United's reticence in confirming their dealings with Chelsea are rooted in the club's failure to attract any of the several marquee signings -targeted by manager David Moyes and Ed Woodward, the executive vice-chairman, last summer.
A public -pursuit of Cesc Fabregas ended in disappointment, despite initial encouragement from the Barcelona midfielder and his associates, while efforts to sign Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and Leighton Baines also foundered -during the final month of the summer transfer window. United's move for Mata, who has been marginalised by Mourinho at Chelsea this season to the extent that he has started just 14 games for the club, comes in the wake of the club's 3-1 defeat at Stamford Bridge on -Sunday which left the faltering champions languishing in seventh place in the Premier League.
Despite previously insisting that United did not require another 'No?10' due to the presence of Rooney, Shinji Kagawa and Adnan Januzaj in his squad, Moyes has now sanctioned the move for Mata in a bid to kick-start his team's season and inject a much-needed morale boost, on and off the pitch. Should he pass his medical over the next 24 hours, Mata is likely to be handed his debut against Cardiff City at Old Trafford next Tuesday, with Moyes keen to add further new faces to his squad before the transfer deadline next Friday.
Having identified the recruitment of a left-back and central midfielder as key priorities this window, United remain determined to pursue attainable targets. But although the club have been offered the chance to sign former Arsenal midfielder Alex Song from Barcelona, senior figures have ruled out a move for the Camer-oon international.
Fredy Guarin, Inter Milan's Colombian midfielder, has also been offered to United following the collapse of his proposed move to Juventus in a swap deal for Mirko Vucinic, who is wanted by Arsenal on loan this month. However Juve are adamant they will only countenance a permanent pounds 8?million deal for the Montenegrin. Inter are keen to offload Guarin, rated at pounds 18?million by the Italians, in order to raise funds for attacking reinforcements, with the San Siro outfit interested in United's out-of- favour striker Javier Hernandez. United, meanwhile, are set to sanction Cardiff's bid take Wilfried Zaha on a six-month loan to south Wales.
The 12 million pounds winger has been told he can leave Old Trafford on a short-term basis after failing to secure regular football, but the -England international will not be available to face United in next Tuesday's Premier League fixture between the two clubs.
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