Selling the team’s player of the season sounds a bit extreme and unrealistic, but reports in Spain continue to insist that Chelsea are looking to sell Juan Mata this summer, and Barcelona might be the club that answers their calls.
The reports of Jose Mourinho considering the sale of the Spanish players became news about a week ago through the Sunday Times, delivering some news on Mourinho’s plans to make Chelsea the kind of team it was during his tenure with the club, and part of that plan was making it psychically dominant again. While Mata has been the best player for the side over the last couple of seasons, in order to bring over the players he wants, Mourinho is considering selling Torres, Mata and David Luiz.
According to the El Mundo Deportivo, Barcelona, who have already been mentioned with both Luiz (sounds reasonable) and Torres (not very likely) are now also very much into the signing of Mata, who is currently playing with the Spanish national team in the Confederations Cup, usually coming off the bench.
Barcelona are likely to sell Thiago Alcantara this season, mostly because the Spain U-21 star wishes to find himself playing more minutes, and he won’t get that option at Barcelona, while Cristian Tello, who has failed to show any progress since joining the senior side, might also be sold in order to finance some future deals after so much money was spent on bringing over Neymar.
How does Mata fit the Barcelona plan? It’s hard to say. He’s not a true winger in a 4-3-3 like Alexis and Pedro are, but one of them is going to give up their place for Neymar anyway. He isn’t likely to fill in the place of Andres Iniesta, but maybe it means Cesc Fabregas’ future with the club is in doubt, with rumors of him returning to the Premier League (Manchester United or Arsenal) having been circulating for weeks.
Mata, who has scored 32 goals and added 59 assists in all competitions since joining Chelsea was purchased from Valencia for £23.5 million. The Real Madrid youth product isn’t likely to be sold for anything less than £30 million, which is quite high for a team that has no definitive use for him.