Juan Mata

[lionsden 4,689]

He said "every player gets a fresh start, and will not be judged based on last season" if i remember correctly.

And preseason, well many players were shit in preseason, including Kalou, Drogba, Malouda, Anelka and co.

Fair enough. let's wait if AVB can stamp his authority on the team and bench under performing stars

[lionsden 4,689]

I hope we can get him. I heard that last season he had the second most assist in la liga, xavi the only player to beat him. Pretty impressive, seems like just what we need.

He's versatile as well. Can double up as an AMF and winger

[bababoom 4,478]

He's versatile as well. Can double up as an AMF and winger

he sounds too good to be true, which begs the question, why are we after him?

[dodojojo 510]

Torres following orders to talk Mata into moving to Chelsea.

[Sheva. 5,373]

I hope we can get him. I heard that last season he had the second most assist in la liga, xavi the only player to beat him. Pretty impressive, seems like just what we need.

According to ESPN soccernet stats page, he had 12 assists last season, Xavi had 7.

Only 4 players had more than him - Messi (18) Ozil (17) Alves (15) Xabi Prieto (13)

[lionsden 4,689]

he sounds too good to be true, which begs the question, why are we after him?

Abramovich got exceedingly sick of kalouda

[Tortilla9 390]

Torres following orders to talk Mata into moving to Chelsea.

Fernando looks pretty animated. Maybe he came back from Spain and told AVB it was a done deal, all that was needed was Roman to spend the money. Maybe that's why he started Sunday. (I kid, I kid!)

[dodojojo 510]

Mata looks convinced. The next Spain get together is Sept 2nd. Who should Gourlay/AVB order Torres to talk to next? Iniesta?

[Guest justin_3d]

Chelsea step up the pace in chase to prise Juan Mata from Valencia

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/aug/17/chelsea-juan-mata?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+theguardian%2Ffootball%2Frss+%28Football%29

[manpe 10,861]

How absolutely stupid it was to wait until his initial buyout clause expired and go for him now that Valencia have the upper hand in the negotiations. Now we must cough up 5-10 million more. That's financial negotiating in its highest level. I can't help but facepalm at the line which reads "Their initial hopes of securing him for a similar fee to the original buyout clause appear to have been rebuffed, with Valencia pushing for €30m before they will release the player." That's what you get for assessing our often-mentioned wide players too long.

[Kieran. 6,317]

Looks like AVB in this pic.

[hawai 4]

Daily Mail says Chelsea have suddenly joined the chase for Juan Mata and have seen a £22million opening bid rejected. SKYSPORT

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Torres is trying to persuade him to join? Shows how shit our negotiators are if we have to get our players to send text messages...

[LondonPride1905 236]

Ah, sounds good then.

Just don't want to get over-excited and then realise maybe he's not this "proper winger" we all hope/think he is.

Mate, he is a tipycal LW. That is why everybody wants him! ;d

[Severinb 309]

Im really starting to get excited both mata and modric would solve our creativity problem and are in my opinion the top transfer targets!! :eyebrows:

[zolayes 14,489]

How absolutely stupid it was to wait until his initial buyout clause expired and go for him now that Valencia have the upper hand in the negotiations. Now we must cough up 5-10 million more. That's financial negotiating in its highest level. I can't help but facepalm at the line which reads "Their initial hopes of securing him for a similar fee to the original buyout clause appear to have been rebuffed, with Valencia pushing for €30m before they will release the player." That's what you get for assessing our often-mentioned wide players too long.

How absolutely stupid it was to wait until his initial buyout clause expired and go for him now that Valencia have the upper hand in the negotiations. Now we must cough up 5-10 million more. That's financial negotiating in its highest level. I can't help but facepalm at the line which reads "Their initial hopes of securing him for a similar fee to the original buyout clause appear to have been rebuffed, with Valencia pushing for €30m before they will release the player." That's what you get for assessing our often-mentioned wide players too long.

TRUE we have left things so late ,,clubs will sense our desperation and hike up the prices ...please hope we don't hear any more calls

for "Patience"

[LondonPride1905 236]

We didn't buy players, because AVB wanted to check the team now, and with the clause ending before 3 weeks, he was still watching our current players.

[zolayes 14,489]

We didn't buy players, because AVB wanted to check the team now, and with the clause ending before 3 weeks, he was still watching our current players.

hadnt he seen all the videos from last season .....seems everyone knew what our needs were.