Barcelona eye Chelsea's Juan Mata after report of contract dispute with Jose Mourinho
Barcelona eye Chelsea's Juan Mata after report of contract dispute with Jose Mourinho
New manager is said to have blocked pay-rise due the Spaniard after his brilliant 2012-13 season PLUS David Luiz latest
He's the Juan? Barca are expected to try to link Mata up with Messi and Neymar
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Barcelona have targeted Juan Mata for a shock summer swoop because they believe he has fallen out with Jose Mourinho.
Mourinho
insisted last week he has not spoken to Mata, or any of the Chelsea
players on Confederations Cup duty in Brazil, since being reappointed.
But rumours that the Special One is not convinced by the Stamford Bridge club's Player of the Season have grown in recent weeks.
And
the Nou Camp side have now sent out feelers in the direction of the
former Valencia man Mata, ahead of a likely £30million bid.
The
latest claim, coming from Catalonia, suggests Mourinho has blocked a
wage increase due the 25-year-old under the terms of his current
contract.
Sources in Spain insist Mata's 19 goals and 35 assists
last term entitled him to a pay rise, but it has been vetoed at
Mourinho's orders.
Chelsea have dismissed the story, pointing to
the fact that Mata still has three years left on the contract he signed
when he arrived from Valencia for £23m in 2011.
But Barca, who
were interested in Mata two years ago before signing Chilean Alexis
Sanchez instead, are now preparing the grounds for an all-out assault by
making overtures to his father and agent, who has the same name as the
Blues star.
Mata has given no indications whatsoever of being unhappy in London and the Blues are unlikely to be impressed with Barca's blatant attempt to instigate problems.
The
Catalan side, who have already landed Brazilian prodigy Neymar in a
£40m deal, are preparing to balance the books by selling Sanchez, Spurs
target David Villa, forward Cristian Tello and midfielder Thiago Alcantara, who has interested Manchester United and scored a hat-trick on Tuesday as Spain beat Italy in the European U21 Championship Final.
Getting
rid of all four would also clear the way to land Mata, if Mourinho
envisages instead using Eden Hazard as his play-maker in the "No 10"
role.
That would be a big call, even for the Special One, after
the huge impression Spaniard has made in his two seasons in west London.
Barca
could also have a part to play in David Luiz's future at Stamford
Bridge, even though they are no longer interested in the Brazil defender
themselves. Hair oui go: PSG will go for Luiz if they sell Thiago Silva to Barcelona
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The Spanish champions have made Luiz's international
centre-back partner Thiago Silva, of Paris Saint-Germain, their prime
defensive target for the summer.
And if Silva does leave PSG, the
money-bags French side will step up their bid to land £35m-rated Luiz,
who has admitted asking international team-mates including Silva and
Lucas Moura about life at the the Ligue 1 champions.
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