From The Stands: Rooney and Mata swap deal

From The Stands allows fans to voice their opinions about trending topics in football. This edition discusses Wayne Rooney‘s possible transfer to Chelsea, with Manchester United rumoured to be getting Juan Mata plus cash in return. We asked a Manchester United fan, a Chelsea fan, and a neutral to tell us what they thought of the rumour. What did they have to say? Find out:

Parth Shah (Featured Writer, Manchester United Fan)

Trust the English media to come up with this one. A ludicrous deal, whichever way you look at it.

Juan Mata was the best player last season, regardless of the statistics and eventual PFA Player of the Year award winners. He is young, mature, exciting to watch, a proven performer and a genuine game-changer, things that you could say about only a handful of players on the planet.

Wayne Rooney, on the other hand, is a star on the decline, but then that has never mattered much when it comes to talking about his price tag. At best, he is worth 25 million pounds, at worst he is worth 10. But the English premium will ensure that if and when Rooney is sold, the deal will come up to around 40 million.

So, in financial terms, Mata plus cash does equal Rooney, even if there is a marked contrast in the way each is important to his team.

From a fan’s point of view, the deal is simply too good to turn down. If United are truly being offered Juan Mata in return for Wayne Rooney, then it’s a no-brainer. Manchester United and Moyes could get a minimum of five quality years from Mata, who is just about to enter his peak, something that cannot be said about Rooney anymore.

Rooney is not indispensable anymore, given the strikers that United have already at their disposal, and for Juan Mata and a couple of million pounds, he can be dispensed with.

If this one comes off, then Manchester United would have done a great piece of business. But I really doubt that the manager who sold Ibrahimovic to Barcelona in return for Eto’o and 60 million euros would be crazy enough to offer the Red Devils both Mata and cash for Rooney.

Nikhil Bijlani (Featured Writer, Chelsea Fan)

This is plain absurd!

Mata, plus cash, for a certain Wayne Rooney does not make sense at all, especially for the Chelsea faithful. Make no mistake, we would love to have Rooney in our team, but giving away our ‘Player of the Season’ for the past two years in exchange is plain ridiculous.

Let’s look at what Rooney brings to the table: long lung-bursting runs forward, versatility, finesse in the game, set-piece threat and goals.

Now, let’s look at what Mata takes away from the table: pin-point passing accuracy, connecting play between the defence and the attack, set-pieces, a fair amount of goals and complete dedication.

Even though Rooney covers most of the factors that Mata’s exit would hurt Chelsea with, the fact that Mata has been in the squad for two years and is now one of the star names on the roster would make it hard for any Chelsea supporter to accept his departure.Add to that the brilliance of Jose Mourinho, and we are almost assured that Mata will be a Chelsea player come this September.

Jose Mourinho, for all the talk of physical football he brings along with him, has his teams revolve around a mobile midfield maestro who is capable of finding his teammates more often than not. Cases in point: Mesut Ozil at Real Madrid and Wesley Sneijder at Inter Milan. Mata is that man for him in his second stint as the Chelsea manager, and it would be foolish to let him leave.

While Rooney can play in the No. 10 position with ease, that is a role which he does not desire. Mind you, it is his inability to displace van Persie as the top striker at United that is driving him towards an exit from Old Trafford. He wants to play as the striker and at Chelsea, he will get a chance to do just that.

Therefore, it does not make sense for Chelsea to part ways with Juan Mata in order to rope in a striker in the form of Rooney.

Matt Vincent (Featured Writer, Neutral)

If Jose Mourinho really got on the phone with David Moyes and offered the new Manchester United manager money plus Juan Mata for Wayne Rooney, I imagine the conversation would have gone something like this:

Jose Mourinho: “Hi David, I have a proposal for you. I’ll give you Juan Mata and some cash for…”David Moyes: “Deal.”

In truth, I actually think that Rooney was hard done by with some of the criticism this past season. After all, in a season which was largely spent either with a large hole in his leg courtesy of Fulham’s Hugo Rodallega or playing second fiddle to Robin Van Persie, the English workhorse still managed to tally 16 goals and 13 assists in 36 games. In fact, if you just line up the stats, there really isn’t much of a difference between Mata and Rooney in terms of productivity and efficiency.

But let’s be serious here. Anyone who watched both Manchester United and Chelsea play last season knows that Juan Mata is a far more valuable player to his football club than Wayne Rooney. The Spaniard was the catalyst of almost everything in Chelsea’s attack last season, and if it wasn’t for Gareth Bale’s unreal season, he might well have had a shot at Player of the Year. Rooney, on the other hand, showed flashes of brilliance at times but never really enforced himself on a game the Mata was able to do.

So does this deal make sense?

Well it certainly does for Manchester United. They would be trading away a disgruntled Rooney for a player who:

(1) can actually play in the same team as Robin van Persie without moving either out of position(2) is better than Wayne Rooney from a talent perspective anyway, and(3) is 2 years younger than Rooney, just for that little cherry on top.

And they would be getting paid to make this trade. Unbelievable. I imagine that if this deal actually does go ahead, the pain of losing Thiago to Bayern Munich will be swiftly forgotten in the red half of Manchester. Whereas in the blue quarter of London, the sight of Wayne Rooney donning a blue shirt on the Stamford Bridge turf will be little conciliation for the huge hole that would be left by the departure of one tiny little Spanish midfielder.

What do you think? Add your opinions in the comments below..