Two footed studs up launch?

It's as bad as it gets. Anyone even trying to defend this is incorrect.

There is never, ever a need to tackle or go for any ball like this. This is why it is a straight red. The ref bottled it.

If I were Cahill I would have found it hard to restrain myself . We should commend him for not retaliating.

The tackle by Rafael was a shocker with the studs of both boots showing and the referee bottled what was a 10/10 red card because he had just sent off Vidic.

A big thank you to Valencia!
If he hadn't had his arms wrapped round Eto'o and bodily swung him round to face the goal, he wouldn't have been able to tap the ball in when it came back, for his third!

Valencia could have gone for that "tackle" on etoo trying to prevent a goal scoring opportunity with a bear hug!

At 100/1 to win the league, united are a poor shadow of their former selves.

It is possible that United will table a £40m bid for mata.

1) Should we sell to a rival?
2) Should we use this a lever to prise Wayne Rooney from them?

As much as i love mata as a player, i can see that he is not a Jose style player, and never will be. And unfortunately we have many players in that small/ creative mould (hazard/ oscar) who are more likely to put a shift in.

Jusy as we swapped KDB for Matic, i can see a Rooney / Mata swap being of benefit to us.

And as much as i once saw Luiz as a future captain for us, i can now see that he will be eventually sold too.

Never understand this "selling to a rival" business. Anyone who has the money or is a attraction to get Mata is a rival for us.

The only things that matter are 1)is he a player we willing to sell 2)What is our value of the player 3)Does the buying club match our valuation 4)Do the terms of the sale suit us (is it instalment payments etc). If its yes to all those questions then yes we sell.

Involved him in a deal with Rooney? Although I do think Rooney is the one we need to buy to sort out the striker isssues we have, A deal involing both of them would be very complicated, Both would want to come out of the deal without losing any face and maybe some cash as well.

I would rather if we was going to do sell Mata and buy Rooney we kept the deals seperate.


We have a value for Mata, Man Utd have a value for Rooney both clubs if they feel the value is fair just hand over the cash and get on with other targets etc

I agree.

However, United have come out and stated that they will never sell Rooney to a rival PL club.

We also have to take into consideration that Mata is probably dropping in value every week he is sidelined. He's still a young man, but clubs will have to take it on faith that they will be getting the same player who was so great in 2011/2012 and 2012/2013.
A player now deemed not good enough (by Mourinho) to force himself into our starting line-up isn't going to command the same kind of money that he would have done last summer.

And since when is "what a club says" and what a club does the same thing?

So they willing to sell him to Stoke? Millwall? The truth of any business is any asset has a value, Its just a case of the two businesses sitting down and working out what that value is.

You dont come out and say "yea we willing to sell" that puts the buyer on the front foot. Something you "unwilling" to sell is always more valuable.

Absolutely. But this is the january transfer window with its associated inflated prices, and United are desperate to make a HUGE signing for many reasons.

£40m is acceptable.

I would take £30m for Luiz too, and drive Essien to the airport.

Rooney will soon have 12 months left on his contract, where he will become worthless.

I can see rooney (or the new club) having to buy out the last year of his contract (which he is allowed to do) in order to move to the 'bridge in the summer.

Messy and pointless. Creates bad blood between the clubs and the player and the club and fans etc.

Lets all be grown up about it and just agree a value like any other transfer and pay it

There's little value in signing Rooney for the money they'd want for him, even if they did allow him to join us. Even though he'd only have a year left on his contract by the summer they're unlikely to let him go on the cheap, we'd still end up paying between £20m-£25m. He turns 29 in October and I can't help thinking that even if we're lucky we'd still only get a couple of decent seasons out of him. After that he'll be past his peak, if not before.

I agree. It seems that its united who are taking their ball away and going home.

How exactly?

They are the club that have stated that they will not sell players to their PL rivals.

£40m would be fair for us but not sure what Mata would get out of it other than more game time. I'm not sure its a place where a top player would want to go just now with Moyes and the current rumblings with their star players, possibly missing out on CL next year (he wouldn't be eligible to play for them this year). If it didn't work out he'd be the new scapegoat because of his price tag. He'd be best waiting till summer and seeing if a PSG or Atletico come in for him.

Saying that Mourinho did say that we won't be playing them again this season in the PL so he hoped they took points off the teams above us. We could loan him out ...

No they are not.

They are trying to get the highest possible amount for their asset.

Its not like in the Mata case where the player is not part of their current plans.

Its up to Chelsea to sit down and work out what Rooney would bring to the team and then work out a value based on that and then work out if we willing to meet that value.

It just purely sensible business

Yes, but how does that equate to 'taking their ball away and going home'?


Spot on.

Mata was fantastic for two seasons, better than David Silva in my opinion. Luiz remains one of the most exciting players around as far as I'm concerned, if he features in a Brazil team that lifts the World Cup his value will sky rocket. I would be sorry to lose either of them to be honest, but I guess you have to be realistic.

As for Michael Essien, show some respect...please. On his day, he was outstanding for us and I loved his attitude. Yes, it's time for him to go, but let him leave with dignity and our heartfelt thanks.

We'd be foolish to sell or loan Mata out in this transfer window whilst we're very much in the title race. We've already let KDB go which was fair enough, but if we let Mata go now too then it'll leave Schurrle as our only back-up AM.

I agree with this, just wondering where the rumours are coming from if nothing is happening. We need him as back up in case Willian, Oscar or Hazard get injured. KDB for Matic was a fair exchange as we were weaker in defensive midfield. I doubt we need money in January so I'd be surprised if we let Mata go.

And as a PL rival chairman which of the following do you think would lead to get the higher offer for your player?

We will sell to anyone

We will not sell to PL rival?

They are not doing thet though. If a PL rival offered £10m more for Rooney than say PSG then they would only accept the foreign offer. They (united) have stated they will not sell rooney to an english PL club.

This is the opposite of getting the best amount financially for their asset surely?

It is out of Uniteds hands. We cant force the player to go abroad. If he only wants to go to Chelsea then its at Chelsea he will end up. Its not hugely different to RVP. Arsenal didnt want to sell him to us but where di he end up in the end?