The Skipper

Can you play in the pivot?

I think over 5 yards probably and also on the ball, but Schurrle is faster over longer distances and especially off the ball.

Do you see his future in that sort of role though? Or further up the field?

One thing I would like to see: Schurrle - Hazard - Salah. The speed on the counter... Oh. My. God.

Guys?

Good.

During times like these a lot of people's actual love for Chelsea are tested. I was initially so gutted that Mata was leaving but the fact that I've now accepted it and the fact that I'm now suddenly over it just goes to show how much I actually love the club. Mata is a fine, fine player but Chelsea > any player. I'm proud that the club dealt with this in a professional, gentlemanish way (unlike United during the Wayne Rooney transfer saga). Players will come and go but Chelsea will always remain. We're in a better position financially and can go all out in the summer now to complete this great side we're making. Mata leaving isn't the end of the world people. Just keep supporting and KTBFFH.

Belgians who watch the JL regularly; do you think he could play next to someone like Matic or Mikel in the pivot? Luka Modric-esque?

Not for us, but for them it surely is. I hate United as much as anyone but the move is good for the PL - it'll keep it more competitive.

Hero. Was once the best midfield player in the world. Such a shame he was robbed by injuries. Good luck Bison.

Sure, if that's how you wanna cope with it instead of accepting the reality, good for you.

just imagine! Instead we ended up with Sheva.

Has anyone stopped to think that this is actually a good deal for all parties involved? We get an insane amount of money for a guy we don't even play. Mata gets playing time at a decent club. United get a much needed motivational boost by signing a great player. It's also good for the PL, as Jose said.

Lol. You've got to be kidding if you weren't expecting that sort of reaction. I understand you're angry but you could be more respectful about a guy who carried the team in the past two seasons and is a big reason why we've got a strong foundation right now.

Growing more fond of him as the days pass by. Just imagine if we had this guy in his prime!

Dark horse.

It's clear some on here haven't played 11 a side football at even the lowest level. If you have you would understand how frustrated Mata is - from star player, marginalised to a mere bench player - despite obvious efforts to improve, he still didn't get enough playing time. If you played football at any sort of decent level you'd understand that he's leaving because he isn't playing enough at all and United are the only club offering an exit for him now.

Don't bother pal, some people will always look for a Judas/scapegoat.

Go read through the thread again and you'll find people calling him spoilt, a child, pathetic, that he's undermining Mou etc. It wasn't about him not fighting, he clearly wasn't fancied by Mou as a number 10. Whenever he did play it was 90% out on the flanks where he is less influential. You'd have players like Oscar or Hazard who we're under performing but they'd still be starting in the following game. Mata has a sub par performance and he's benched for 3/4 games. You seriously can't say that a player as good as Mata is happy with just being a squad player when he can be more elsewhere.

Uhh, he did get slaughtered. Mata didn't want to fight to be nothing more than a bench warmer, yeah. It was clear Mourinho already made his mind up about Mata. He was barely played in his proper position, bloody hell.

There was no way Mata was in Jose's future plans, that was clear, so why should he fight to be a bit part player? I don't understand why Mata is being made into the villain here. You do realise that Jose also just could've said "no, you're not going" just like he did with Ba right? Mata has the chance to play regular football again, we receive a substantial fee for him. It's not ideal that he's going to United but I can understand why the club accepted the bid and why Juan doesn't really want to stay. It would be very different if Juan was one of our most influential players this season but he's been a bench warmer.

I don't understand why you don't understand that there was no way Mata would be begging to stay on the bench.

Well, I still think the Willian signing was unnecessary at the time because I thought that Mata and KDB would be given prominent roles. Obviously now that they're both gone the Willian signing makes sense but at the time it's understandable why most didn't want Willian (esp. after we signed Schurrle too). I never questioned his talent, I've always admitted he's a good player. Similarly with Salah - guy is a decent player but it means that a few of our on loan youngsters (Traore, Piazon, Atsu) will definitely be moved on again next season. He's not much better than those guys IMO. It's just pretty annoying that we are once again throwing money at a problem when we could've fixed it internally.

LOL! Salah was better than Hazard was two years ago? This is ridiculous. Let's completely forget that Hazard was player of the year in France. Salah hasn't even achieved that in Switzerland.

I'm not saying he's a bad player, he's obviously pretty good. It's just that he's not that much better than our young lads. We could've easily given that bench spot to one of the more promising lads (if you're looking for a left footed winger) like Atsu or Traore. Again, he's not a bad player, but I'm annoyed that we could've just saved the £10m and spent it elsewhere whilst at the same time promoting youth.