Whisper it ... but United may have put one over Jose
WELL, that didn’t last long. Little more than a week since it became clear Chelsea would do business with Manchester United over Juan Mata, and the first casualty of the decision is already known. Wayne Rooney in a Chelsea shirt. Whoomp, as the song goes, there it is. Turns out there was no cunning plan, no deal struck behind closed doors. Losing Mata was not just another stage of some wider negotiations to be continued this summer. Chelsea really did sell last season’s player of the year to one of their most significant rivals simply for the money. We will not be tuning in for the next thrilling instalment when the series returns in June.
In fact, so off-the-table was Rooney that the clubs did not even speak directly about Mata for fear of his name coming up. The deal was conducted through intermediaries because United knew Chelsea would ask about Rooney, and they knew what the answer was going to be, and they didn’t want the inevitable frostiness to derail the transfer on which they could agree.
If the Glazers have one regret about their time at Manchester United, it is caving in over Cristiano Ronaldo’s transfer to Real Madrid. Having rejected the first bid, they became convinced that Ronaldo’s departure was inevitable and Sir Alex Ferguson told the player that if he stayed one more season and Madrid remained interested, he could go.
Privately, the Glazer brothers now wish they had not been so easily persuaded. They wonder if there were any terms that could have kept Ronaldo from Madrid’s clutches — a deal like the £300,000 being offered to Rooney.
Either way, they regret not digging in, even if it meant Ronaldo running down his contract and leaving for nothing. That would certainly have been the policy had Rooney refused this new deal point blank. Maybe United’s intransigence has even helped to make up his mind.
So what happens next? Rooney signs a very expensive contract sooner rather than later, it seems. And some will say its size smacks of desperation on United’s part, and that he has held them to ransom once again.
Yet if Rooney stays it will be another big statement, like the signing of Mata, a victory for the club and David Moyes in dark times.
Chelsea were hoping to achieve more than a mild loss of face at Old Trafford with their pursuit of Rooney. They were solving a big problem, recruiting United’s best player, dealing a savage blow to morale and damaging a rival in a way that would be irreparable in the short term. The opposite may now have happened. It is Chelsea who appear weaker, albeit £37m richer.
Nobody can guarantee that Mata’s transfer will succeed, or that United can be propelled towards next season’s Champions League after such a miserable start, but changing Rooney’s attitude is a huge step.
Before the Mata saga began it was widely suspected that his departure from Old Trafford was more when than if. Now, however extravagant the numbers, he looks ready to commit. He may have played United’s negotiators like violins, but most regard that as preferable to playing them with a supporting network of Willian, Oscar and Eden Hazard next season.
If the idea of running all transfers by him seems far-fetched, it would certainly make sense if Rooney received assurances that big improvements were coming. Starting with the revelation about Mata.
United may look some distance behind Chelsea right now but, qualify for the Champions League next season, and there are ways they might become an even more attractive proposition.
Take the case of Luke Shaw. Southampton insist Shaw will not be sold in this transfer window. There is increasing likelihood he will leave at some stage in 2014, though. Southampton are ambitious but have always been a selling club, and £25m for a teenage full back would be too much to resist.
If Chelsea and United are, once more, in direct competition, Shaw’s advisers will be mindful of the fate of other prospects who moved to clubs without an obvious means of progression: Jack Rodwell, Adam Johnson and Scott Sinclair at Manchester City, Wilfried Zaha at United and, further back, Wayne Bridge and Shaun WrightPhillips at Chelsea. And that is where United hold the advantage.
Patrice Evra is fading fast with no obvious replacement and Moyes has a team in need of overhaul, with arrivals likely to be given a chance.
By contrast, Chelsea have already realised the best part of plan A. Faced with an issue over Ashley Cole, Mourinho switched Cesar Azpilicueta from right back to left back with such excellent results that Ryan Bertrand was allowed on loan to Aston Villa.
Indeed, Azpilicueta may have grown into the best performer in that position in the Premier League, keeping Cole out and enabling Mourinho to play Branislav Ivanovic on the right. At the very least, Azpilicueta will remain a left-back option next year, making Shaw one for the future. Sometimes, as Rodwell is discovering at City, that future seems a long way off.
Shaw has no imperative to leave Southampton for anything less than a starting place, so why would he choose Chelsea over United? United’s struggles are far from over but, without doubt, following Mata’s arrival they are beginning to ease. Just as Everton regard the commitment shown by Leighton Baines as cause for optimism, so getting Rooney’s contract signed off would be a significant boost for Moyes. Mata was one man, getting off a helicopter, but sometimes reinforcements arrive from the most unexpected sources.
JOE Kinnear, director of football at Newcastle United, recently told fans how hard it was to buy quality players in the January window. Seems pretty easy to sell them, though.