ESPN reported that Juan Mata is linked with a loan move to Atletico Madrid. Pretty ridiculous considering how crucial he is to Chelsea. Is it possible he leaves Chelsea on loan?

Welcome to Arsenal.

Everything could be possible. Mata has also been linked with a move on loan to Arsenal.

Mata is too professional to go to Arsenal, whether it is on a loan deal or not. I'd rather see him at Atletico, where AM would have a much better chance of breaking the RM-FCB duopoly.

AM = Atletico Madrid

Mourinho said that Mata is going no where for sure :) he is our player of the year so it's impossible to let him go.

I dunno. He DID just say that he'd sell to a rival, didn't he...? ;)

^When he said that? He never said anything like that in all the interviews.

<http://www.theguardian.com/football/2013/aug/24/jose-mourinho-wayne-rooney>

"Sometimes you push players abroad when you should be interested in keeping them in your league, because when you keep players in your league you are contributing to make your league the best league. So when you want to sell and you are pushing the players abroad I think you are giving the wrong contribution to the league where you are."

----

Sounds good to me, Jose. Now, about this Mata fellow...

I was kidding in my first post although It would be nice if he did join us but I doubt that'll happen.

@Lodatz: But he also said he wont sell at all this season, only loan. And obviously, we wont loan our best player for the past two seasons.

I don't understand how you people are taking this seriously. This is like saying Messi should go to another team now because Neymar has arrived at Barcelona.

BS

Of course no-one is taking it seriously. It's fun, however, to point out Mourinho's hypocrisy. :)

@Lodatz: I guess you are right about no one taking it seriously, but it then what was the purpose of this thread really?
As for his hypocrisy, you didn't decide to show the other important part of his full statement. Mourinho is no fool. He still wont sell to a rival if the player is not unhappy at Chelsea. The only time he would sell to a rival is when the player is unhappy at Chelsea and wants to stay in the league. Rooney is unhappy at United, and there have been no offers outside England for him. The same went for William Gallas when at Chelsea.

"Players are sometimes unhappy because they want new contracts and at other times they are unhappy because they want to leave and that is a different situation."

“Other times it’s because they really want to go. I was so sad about William Gallas. He was fundamental for us when we won titles.

“He said he wants, he wants, he wants and we couldn’t stop him, so we decided not to stop him.

“As you know, in this club it wasn’t an economical problem, it was just the player wanted to go. Ricardo Carvalho and John Terry were playing central defence all the time and he wanted to be first choice.

“He was playing many matches in a position that wasn't his best position, he was playing left-back and sometimes Wayne Bridge was playing, so he wasn't happy. So we thought it was a fair situation to sell him in the end.

“I had no trouble selling him to a rival. It happens all the time in Europe.”

He did state he would sell to a rival, but that doesn't mean he will when the opputinity is given. He'll just sell if he sees a better option or sees the player is unhappy.

LOL. Um, you do recall that Chelsea offered Gallas as part exchange for Ashley Cole, right?

"so sad about Gallas". My arse he was. Gallas was offloaded in order to get someone better. That's not selling to a rival. That's taking advantage of them, which is precisely what Chelsea did to Arsenal.

You might recall Arsenal fans being a little upset about it. ;p

(Edit: oh, and I forgot, Chelsea ALSO tried to make up crap about Gallas to justify what they did, saying that he threatened to score own goals if not allowed to leave. Even the PFA chairman, after investigation, declared that Chelsea were making it up. Such class. ;p)

Hmmmm, you're right. I do remember now that we used Gallas to get Cole. HAHAHAHAHAHA, oh that was a hilarious time for us. As for making it up, I don't think I ever heard that before, but it is a shameful act if true. But let's not forget every club has these moments. If I look into it hard enough, I'm sure there was news about the Tottenham club not doing something good recently either with their transfer money.

" But let's not forget every club has these moments. If I look into it hard enough, I'm sure there was news about the Tottenham club not doing something good recently either with their transfer money."

Sure, and feel free (though I honestly believe you'll struggle, with the specific example of Spurs). Go for it, because as you say: everyone does shady things from time to time. But for me the key part is this one:

"HAHAHAHAHAHA, oh that was a hilarious time for us."

Okay, fine. So you find it hilarious. Works for me. You're perfectly entitled to feel that way, and who could blame you? Just be fine with the fact that other people might not be overly impressed with Chelsea for doing it? ;)

Personally, I thought it was a brilliant move, by Chelsea, and enjoyed it all the more because it came at the expense of Arsenal. Just as I am sure Gooners were laughing at the insult to Spurs in this Willian business. That's expected, as far as I'm concerned.

Thanks for understanding man. There is no such thing as morals in football, its all business ;). And we got the best of it with Arsenal.

Bullshit