Would not be so sure.

Can see JT wanting a 3 year contract and i can see why we would not want to offer him that. Wages are going to be a issue as I would guess he one of the highest paid players at the club. I personally would met in the middle and offer a two year deal but wages would have to come down quite abit.

Hopefully we can sort something out that makes both sides happy as would love both Lamps and JT to retire at the club

most players lower contract length with every contract near end of their careers. cant see it being a big issue.

True but there are alot more options nowadays. With money flowing though the game someone like him would attract a 3 year big money contract offer while yes the level of the football might not be great the money on offer is hard to turn down even for players as wealthy as they are today.

yeah USA or Qatar could come calling but i think terry would prefer to stay at chelsea.

just an opinion,i have nothing to back that up lol

Oh i do as well and in the past I think it would have been 90% certain he would have but with possible offers of 150k plus for 3 years on offer against a year at 70k, I dont think anyone can say the prefered option is the best one. Even some europern clubs would meet that nowadays. At the moment i think its 50% he will stay. I pretty confident he would not stay in England

Wenger really needs to learn Jose owns him.

Jose spoke very well. This is in danger of being a very good natured transfer which has to be a rarity at the top level.

I thought it was perfect.

Said everything that needed to be said.

This is a deal not about what fans "want" but what is "right" and I think everyone has come out a winner and with dignty. Something that is very very rare in football nowadays

Essien's gone to Milan. On loan for 18 months or on a free, either way, he's gone for good.

One of my favourite ever players. He'd still be one of the best in the world today if not for those bastard injuries

One of my all time favourite players for Chelsea was a beast in his time but the injuries really have taken there toll on him.

Bye Essien and thanks for everything.

Sadly true

Still remember his goal against Arsenal

I thought Essien was out of contract this summer, but after NinjyBear's post I looked it up and it does indeed run 'til 2015. Surprising really that we gave him a further 2 year extension in summer 2010 on top of a deal that had already been due to run ;til 2013 anyway when he'd already had 2 serious injuries by then that had ruled him out a large chunk of the previous couple of years. No wonder the club are more cautious with extending contracts these days.

Brilliant player for us in his prime though. The goals against Arsenal and Barca live long in the memory.

I bid a fond farewell to Essien, "the bison".

Injuries really did affect his career, he was never the same again.

It is pretty gutting to see both Mata and Essien go. Both have been fantastic players for us. Mata was a few seasons away from being up there with the Chelsea greats like Zola etc, and Essien was an absolute beast, one of the best midfielders the premier league has ever seen IMO, shame injuries ruined his career.

Yes, it's sad about Michael Essien. But he's joining a big name club in a beautiful city, I'm sure he'll enjoy the final years of his career. I also read that we're doing the right thing by him financially, he'll be taking a cut in wages, but we're making up any difference for the remainder of his contract.
One of my favourite players, he didn't take any prisoners, but he could take it himself as well as dishing it out...and usually with a big smile on his face. Still only 31 years old, without the injuries he would probably have had another 4 or 5 years at the top.

Milan have a great record extending the career of players so it's a very good move for him.

I can't believe it's finally happened...

At the beginning of the season when there were talks of Mata not being Jose's type of player I just brushed them off. Who wouldn't want a player who was 2 times player of the year. Who wouldn't want a player who came off the back of a season with 20 goals and 30 assists. Who wouldn't want a player who almost carried us at times during his past two seasons with us? It was completely unthinkable at the time. And then, when Jose made those comments about him building Oscar as his no. 10, I still dismissed the idea that Mata couldn't adapt. There were times last season when watching our three amigos playing were a joy to watch - Norwich at home really springs to mind. We bought Mata as a winger anyway and that was position in Valencia so I didn't think too much of it. Not to mention with our style of play, our three playmakers like to drift inside; again, I still believed Mata could adapt.

Fast forward to the Spurs game and when Mata came on, he ran the show. His passing at times was just orgasmic to say the least...not to mention he got the assist for Terry's header. I thought this was the game that proved to all the doubters that Mata still has a place in Jose's plans. And then fast forward a few weeks he was getting much less prominent game time. He was getting subbed off more and couldn't affect the game like we know he can. Both Oscar and Hazard were fluctuating between poor and average during November and early December and it was fustrating not to see a player of Mata's quality given more playing time - especially since Mou always talks about players having to earn their starting spot...but I still kept on believing that he will get his chance soon enough. I missed Mata's last two matches with us (the Swansea and Southampton game) but was he really that bad during those games? I managed to catch the pathetic 'highlights' from MOTD and for the Swansea game, he delivered two chances on a plate for Eto'o. I wasn't able to catch any highlights for the Southampton game but I did see Mata's reaction to being subbed off and I felt really sad for him. Here is a player who just wants to play and he wasn't able to get any sort of consistency going. How was Mata supposed to adapt to a new manager, a new system, a new philosophy without regular game time? It's not like Oscar and Hazard hit the ground running either. Mata was trying; in the appearences he made he wasn't just strolling around the pitch waiting aimlessly for the ball. There were times where he did concede fouls and he did concede corners. Why? Because he was trying to adapt to this new high pressing game that Jose was trying to implement. Mata was never going to a be a person who can hit successful tackles like Oscar can but he was trying his best.


I can't even.....really? I truly hope you don't mean that and you only typed that because you were fustrated that Mata was heading off to Man U. It's true, Mata isn't the fastest guy on the earth (I'd love to see a 100m sprint race between him and Mikel) and he is lightweight (take a look at how he performs against Man City) but to say he never puts a true shift in...are you kidding me? Take a look at his performance against Spurs away or both his performances against Man U last season. Take a look at his set piece delivery that helped us win two European trophies. How can you dismiss a player like Juan who has given so much in so little time for the club? That line should only be reserved for people like Torres NOT, and I repeat, NOT Juan Mata. He was our little magician; he can open up teams with his defence splitting passes, he can anticipate passes in a split second and the numbers he produced over his two seasons here were fantastic. Just because he doesn't do much defensively doesn't make him a lazy player. He's a playmaker first and foremost and what do I want from my playmakers? Oh that's right - I want goals and assists. And that is what Juan has provided us with. If we did have a competent striker, I'd imagine Mata's stats would be far superior than Ozil's right now. Not only has Mata contributed to our club's success but he has also won over a lot of people's hearts. Mata is humble, kind, intelligent and THAT beard...God he's so dreamy . He's been an absolute professional through all of this and my heart died a little when I saw it being confirmed that he's now heading off to Manchester United. I can't bear to click on the United supporters thread...to seem him in a red shirt and celebrating with the likes of Rooney and Welbeck, **** me. I'll have to avoid all Man U games for a while now.

It hurts even more knowing that he could have offered us so much more. He always speaks about how much he loves living London and playing for the club - he seemed like a player who would become part of our new spine, a player who could become a legend here. Perhaps if it wasn't a WC year he might have stayed, who knows... but I wish Juan all the best.


I could counter that and say where would we be without Juan in those past two seasons? When our strikers were pissing about at least he was still producing goals and creating chances for the team. There were times where we looked uttely hopeless without him, he was like our glue that stuck the team together. It's true, we are in a better position this year but our performances in the past two season can't all be contributed to Mata. Our squad depth was bad; our strikers were misfiring; we sacked RDM and hired Benitez; defensively we were all over the place - we couldn't even keep 2 goal leads against the likes of Reading FFS! Just like you say, there might have been a heap of reasons why we sold Mata but there are also a whole heap of reasons why our performances in the league in the past two years hasn't been so good.

But I do agree that we are a force and I won't be worried when we face Man U with Mata in the team. When Man U get a new defence and a world class CM, then I will start to panic. Until then, one great player isn't going to salvage their season. We should know better than anyone! You need a system, a good manager and players that fit your system. It will be interesting to see how Moyes will accomodate Mata; we all know his best position is CAM, so I wonder if Rooney will play on the wings? But anyway, I don't really really want to discuss this right now.

You're right, we are moving in the right direction. Even though it's sad to see a fantastic player like Juan going to a rival our future looks bright. It's quite funny seeing how it looked like we were going to play a more posession-based style of play (we were probably gearing for Pep) and now we're going back to more fast/counter-attacking play. If it's true that we're in for the likes of Luke Shaw and Zouma then our future looks really good. Hopefully Lukaku and Courtois can be integrated in the team and we'll be set for the next decade!


I agree with every word of your post (although Schurrle did have a cracking game against Steaua Bucharest not just Stoke ). I wish we could have delayed the deal till the summer. So what if we couldn't recoup as much as £37m in the summer transfer window. Would Mata's value really fall that much? I mean we paid £30m for Willian!! We might have made a profit on Mata's sale but look where we spent the money on: Salah, another attacking midfielder (it's not like we don't have enough of those....Traore, Piazon, Atsu, Moses and Marin all say hi). For all this talk about we got a great fee etc etc.... just look at how much we paid for Salah. We reinvested the profit from Mata's sale to buy another AM when we could have developed one of our youngsters instead. I don't have anything against the player but I feel he's just going to be a squad player for us (would love to be proven wrong though).


I was quite shocked to see how low wages Mata was on too. He reminds of me a kid in school who would have all his pencils lined up and a classmate would ask to borrow one. Knowing full well he will never see the living daylight of the pencil again, he still wouldn't say no. That's the kind of guy he is; he's a nice guy. He doesn't kick up a fuss when he doesn't play (a few other players could take note) and he doesn't seem like the type of guy who would use the media to command higher wages. Even though the boost in wages will be a welcome change for him, he just loves to play. Since we weren't giving him any playing time, in the end as much as I don't want to admit it, it was probably the right decision to let him leave.

Bye Juan and thanks for eveything!

I'd also like to say goodbye and thanks to Essien too. I don't have time right now to write another long post so I'll just keep this short. We all knew it was coming sooner rather later but it seems so weird now that it's finally happened. After his loan spell at Real Madrid, I was thinking we might a rejuvenated Essien again but alas, it wasn't to be. Best of luck to you Essien!

I agree with everything you've said about Mata and Essien. I wish Jose could have found a role for him, but if he's not starting I want him to do well elsewhere, even with them. He is a nice guy and the fact he was on 70k after being our player of the year for the past 2 years is a testament to his humility. He's been dignified throughout and I hope we win the prem this year and get him a medal to complete his collection with us. I trust Jose to make us a winning team, but it is a shame Mata has been a casualty as he has held us together for a while.

Sometimes players don't fit in with managers for one reason or another. For some reason the manager who will lead you to great things didn't fancy Mata so i guess he becomes a casualty of that.

In the end we get a player that i am absolutely chuffed about signing, but you guys get £37m for a player who Mourinho simply wasn't going to pick anyway.

Personally i think that everyones comes out of this transfer with great credit. Chelsea, Man Utd , Mourinho, Moyes and Mata. Everyone has treated everyone else with great respect and spoken REALLY well in the media. None of the usual back stabbing and one-upmanship. Sometimes a deal just suits everyone and i think this is one of those times.

Pretty much this. I'm feeling like the time I sold my first car and actively looked out for it on the streets for years later. Hope you guys look after him and realise you've got a gem. Don't break him.

I agree. As much as I like Mata this transfer is for the best all round. He's gone to a top club, United have a top player and we got top dollar.

I also think its not a bad move by Mourinho either. I think it sends a wee message to the players. If he can punt the twice player of the year then you better bloody well perform because no one is safe. He is demonstrating that without saying a word or attacking anyone. He's not daft.

Chelsea got good money for Juan Mata. But it would've been better if Chelsea didn't give Man United a lifeline by selling their best player to them. They will use Mata to lure other big players to their club.

It's rare such a good player would move to another big EPL rival.

I worry by losing creative players of Chelsea win the league what style it will be? Worrying the manager isn't doing enough to being in a new striker.