The Mak

Oh give over. Yes, it is well known by now that José was saying that we wouldn't sell unless he asked for the move. By him just announcing that it put pressure on Mata to do it - so of course he was, he wants to play. You can't hold it against him. It was obvious José didn't want him, so he could've just sold him but he didn't. That's because he wanted to basically force Juan to ask for the move so he would have a nice excuse to point to.

I don't care about the hierarchy. I care about people acting as if Mourinho is infallible and that selling our player of the season for the past two years to one of our biggest rivals is some sort of genius masterstroke by him - when in actual fact no one has a fucking clue how this is all going to pan out.

It's not Mourinho FC either, but some people like to act as if it is.

Sorry Juan, I still love you, but I hope those idiots use you on the wings and the only time you hear the CL music in a red shirt is on the T.V. It'll be like watching your girlfriend getting nailed by your arch-nemesis and you can do sweet fuck all about it. So thanks for that Chelsea, you literally could've sold him anywhere else. You could've even used him as a bargaining chip in a Costa deal, but no. It'll be great seeing the stupid smiles on all of my United mates while they thank me for a top notch footballer. What also pisses me off is that, if this whole thing is really just because of FFP, the thought of that Goldilocks sack of shit sitting in our treatment room who has contributed FUCK ALL compared to Mata and is somehow still at this club and on £180k a fucking week. There'll be a serious shitstorm if we don't get a massive signing either in this transfer window, the next or we end up not having enough AM cover for the rest of the season. And I've a sick feeling about this whole thing and that it's only inevitable before:

Rob Beasley is a massive bellend.

Thank fuck for that! You just enjoy yourself down there!

There's a big drop in quality when you rely on Moses/Ramires as back-up compared to Mata - no matter what system you're trying to implement, you're going to get a drop in quality. We have 3 terrible strikers compared to the top teams and our midfield still needs work, as does our defence. We rely on our AMs to win us games. Mata is still capable of getting goals and assists. He's not disabled. We've been lucky with Hazard's, Oscar's and Willian's fitness until now. Imagine if Hazard pulled his hamstring again like he did 2 weeks before the end of last season? Woops. All of a sudden there goes the majority of our goals from midfield and the guy who needs to be constantly doubled up on. We're then reliant on our only 3 quality AMs to win us games in the league, FA cup and CL. Who gives a shit. I'm not talking about Stoke or FA cup games. I'm talking about if we get stuck for injuries in really important games like a Dortmund in the CL or something. I don't want the likes of Moses anywhere near such a game. If Oscar gets injured I want Mata to take his place as CAM. Making progress in the CL itself can gain us millions and it could be jeopardised by weakening the strength of our only strength - quality AMs. And no, I don't fully believe Mata is totally incapable of playing a no.10 in José's system. He was having a perfect game against Southampton, 100% passing, 3/4 tackles made in his own half and had every right to feel aggrieved at being taken off so early. There were exaggerations on both camps towards Mata's influence compared Oscar's in that game. He was doing a good job at what he was asked and has made great strides in his game compared to the start of the season, but some people refuse to see it. He's not just as defensively good as Oscar the same way Oscar is not as offensively good as Mata. Somethings have to be traded. You must be confused. I'm not saying, 'let's keep him forever' I'm saying that contrary to popular belief, he can still do a good job for us and is great cover to have until the summer where we can not sell to a rival. I find it ironic that you call people glory hunters but you're very quick to get all googly eyed over a big wad of cash (we can fuck all with now) offered to us by our biggest rival in the past decade. Especially since they wouldn't do the same in the summer. Somethings should not have a price. Did Dortmund give a shit when Bayern offered for Lewandowski? Did they fuck. They have some pride You're advocating a 4-3-3 but if remember correctly you were the one harping on about Oscar being our CAM. You heard José, he doesn't want him tracking full-backs. 4-3-3 is not realistic as long as he is here. But you can continue to point to the whole of 1/2 games as your proof if you really feel like it... . Good one. Instead of making stupid smart-arse comments that contribute fuck all, shouldn't you be more worried about people calling you names? You know, to match your discriminatory behaviour towards Chelsea fans? Just so you don't get your knickers in a twist again because you can't defend yourself. Oh wait no, your defence is to prove yourself to be a big tough guy by asking to fight people who live in different countries. Solid!

Pro-selling people seem to not want to deal with the fact that we will be weakened by this sale. Style or no style, our AMs is our main strength in this squad, if nothing else, and selling Mata halfway through the season leaves us vulnerable to injuries for the rest of the season - unless he is replaced by someone adequate, which I don't see happening. Everyone seems to be pointing at the summer transfer window as a reason, but until then we'll be weakened this season while still fighting for titles we can win now. The summer window will also have inflated prices because of the WC, so it makes me laugh when people say we can get 2-3 WC players out of the Mata sale. Right now this only makes sense for everyone but us.

Pretty much: Negotiations have been going on for the past 48hrs, we want £40m and United will pay it. They don't want to make promises about Rooney. But it is negotiations between two clubs that usually fight for titles, so it's difficult. "Remains plenty to be done and you couldn't guarantee it will be done". Also that United can outbid Atletico but the deal is still far off for United so you never know.

Found this over in the Manc's hovel: http://www.reddit.com/r/reddevils/comments/1vs5lc/twitter_samwallaceindy_chelsea_close_to_agreeing/ http://imgur.com/BxdRM6a They seemed very secretive about it. Apparently it's a reliable source by a Manc journo called Andy Mitten. All the Mancs seem to know him and trust him....I hope it's fucking false.

Urgh...the worst thing about this whole situation is not knowing anything. Not knowing the clubs stance or plans, not knowing if we have someone lined up, not knowing if we'll struggle with AM injuries, not knowing the potential knock on effects for those wankers at United. This is bullshit. I just want the transfer window to be over.

I honestly see no one available for us right now that could improve us/win us the title. We can list names as much as we want but, realistically, top players aren't moving in January. Mata is an exception and that's why United are after him. I don't think we can do the same. I only see this as weakening us and strengthening United in exchange for cash we can't really do anything significant with in this window. Until I'm proven otherwise, I'm not happy with this transfer at all.

Imagination time: If it was offered, who would take Cash+Hernandez? I would. 20 goals a season? Sell ba for a few million? And a possible replacement for Mata? Yes please.

Well it's that figure that annoys me because Mata is just behind Ozil in his position. I'd even say he's more consistent than him. £32m for Mata+Torres and then we can talk!

Balague talks an awful lot of shite. We only want £32m? Really? For a player who is only perhaps bested by Ozil in his position? I seriously doubt it. That's a god damn January bargain. I don't believe it for a second. And who in the blue hell are we realistically going to get at this stage? If United offered £32m for Mata I'd tell them to shove it up their arse.

I agree, but we would definitely need to bring someone in to replace Mata if he goes so we're not short-changed. For examples sake, if we go for Reus and Dortmund want an extra 10m because of the timing, then it should be reflected in our valuation of Mata. There's no reason for us to deal unless we're secure in that position for the season. That said, our £35m+ valuation might say something in itself. Mourinho isn't the type to leave himself vulnerable unless he can help it, so I wouldn't be surprised if he already had a replacement in mind that is in and around that price bracket. KDB - Matic is a prime example.

It doesn't make sense to me. I don't see why United really want Mata if they have Rooney. As long as Rooney is there they won't put Mata in his best position and he won't be anywhere near as good or influential. They already have Kagawa and refuse to play him there. Rooney is a massive thorn in their side I think and Ferguson had it right. Ok, he scores goals but as I was saying in the summer he has a lot of negatives. He has no sense of loyalty, as all he does is piss and moan for contracts and refuses to comment on his future. He forces the team into a formation just so they can accommodate him - Moyes is a fool for pandering to him. I seriously doubt the both of them would be injured right now if Rooney didn't throw his toys out of the pram just because RVP is the better player. He practically blackmailed his way back into the team and Moyes is way too weak to deal with him. And he still hasn't proved me wrong about his fitness. They'd be better off replacing him and nearly all United fans I know agree. Maybe they're just panicking or something but I don't really get the Mata interest as long as he is there.

Never going to happen unless we're replacing him with someone on his level and is more of a Mourinho player e.g. Reus. The chances of that happening are very slim indeed. We won't sign a striker simply because we've already let KDB go. We would go from having too many AMs, to having too little for the rest of the season. One injury and we could be fucked from overplaying 3 of them.

I was thinking that! My lord, those odds....

I was a bit arrogant and went for a 3-0! Nearly all of my money was on us to win -1 though, so it's fine!

Eh, I'm pretty sure he was being sarcastic...

UNREAL performance from the big man! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgDxUgsWdyE That was some of the best jogging, clapping and jumper-taking-off I'VE EVER SEENI!!!

We turned down loan approaches for him from Burnley, Watford and Wigan apparently. I would've prefered him getting a good run of games in the Championship instead of sitting on our bench just because he's versatile. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2542196/EXCLUSIVE-Chelsea-turn-offers-Championship-trio-Burnley-Watford-Wigan-highly-rated-Nathan-Ake.html

Funny they say that instead of focusing on how fucking shit they are if we beat them without getting out of 3rd gear. Sorry we didn't give you a show lads, but we're saving our energy for the big teams. Absolute mugs.