Brendan Rodgers made a cheeky last ditch attempt to bring Juan Mata to Anfield…
Liverpool made a late swoop to sign Juan Mata from Chelsea, respected Spanish football journalist Guillem Balague has claimed.
Bizarrely, despite being one of Chelsea’s best players for the past two seasons, Mata has fallen down returning manager Jose Mourinho’s pecking order. The Portuguese boss seems to rate both Eden Hazard and Oscar above the 25-year-old Spaniard, and has spent £33m on Brazilian playmaker Willian, who will expect to be a first-team starter, too.
Dozens of clubs have asked for Mata but Chelsea don’t want him to go. Liverpool, PSG and Valencia amongst them
— Guillem Balague (@GuillemBalague) September 2, 2013
Balague also claims that Valencia and PSG enquired about the availability of Mata, who will instead stay at Stamford Bridge until January at least.
With the World Cup taking place next summer however, Mata will be desperate to play first-team football, and may demand a loan deal come the winter transfer window if he spends too much time on the bench in the first half of the season.
There will be no shortage of potential suitors for the playmaker, although it is yet to be seen whether Mata can force his way back into Mourinho’s plans.
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