Everyone knows Juan Mata is looking to get himself into a better situation than he currently is in. While Chelsea and Jose Mourinho aren’t planning to sell him, they’re open for offers, while Mata’s father and agent has been shopping him around to Barcelona, Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain, Napoli and Inter, hoping to find a way out of his current situation.
While Mata is an excellent player, it seems that in the current system and the recent momentum in Chelsea’s plans, he doesn’t really seem to fit in under Jose Mourinho. Eden Hazard is untouchable in the lineup, while Oscar and Willian do a lot better in terms of goalscoring and their overall adaptation to what the manager is asking of them.
Mata still hasn’t’ scored a single goal in 13 league matches for the team this season, and was clearly unhappy with being substituted after only 53 minutes in their 3-0 win over Southampton, with the big change coming after he was taken off. This doesn’t mean Mata was bad – he was probably Chelsea’s best player up to that point. However, it was hard to argue with facts and results: Oscar came on for him, scoring once and adding an assist.
Seeing one of these big clubs actually make a January move for Mata, which means spending at least £25 million, just doesn’t make sense. However, someone like Napoli, desperate to get back into the title race (five points behind Roma, 10 behind Juventus) might try and loan him for four months, not having the Champion League to worry about in terms of ineligibility. The same goes for Inter, but right now it looks like the new owner wants to sell before he signs anyone. Guarin going to Chelsea while Mata makes the trip in the opposite direction comes to mind.
What about AC Milan? Hard to say. Mata will definitely help, but having him and Kaka in the same lineup might create too soft of a midfield, not to mention Milan being quite strapped for cash at the moment, or at least not willing to spend anything in order to get out of the jam they’re in.
Mata leaving on a long seems like the likeliest of scenarios, but Mourinho will try blocking that one until he has himself another signing.