Chelsea: 5 Reasons Selling Juan Mata To Man Utd Is A Terrible Deal

5. He Could Get United Into The Champions' League

United have completed their two Premier League fixtures against Chelsea this season, are out of the FA Cup and won't be able to field Mata should Chelsea face them in the Champions' League. Good short term reasons why sending Mata to United could benefit the Blues this year: with them twelve points behind Chelsea at the time of asking, why not send them one of our unhappy, but enormously gifted, players to bolster their chances of taking points from our title rivals Arsenal and Man City? There's no downside to that. Literally nothing could go wrong! What this overlooks is while United are twelve points behind Chelsea's third place, they are a slender six points off the Champions' League qualification spot in fourth. United are in crisis at the moment, the result of a poorly-planned transition from a fading team held together by Alex Ferguson's exceptional man-management to the comparatively inexperienced David Moyes. Their ability to rebuild for the future will be hugely dependent on having top level European football to provide next season, and while a club of United's stature will always hold some sway, after the calamities which have befallen the club this season, will the world's top talent be able to overlook all the signs pointing to a rapid decline? With Champions' League football, United will be able to reassure their targets that this season was a short term blip during a difficult transition, even through which they remained strong enough to qualify for Europe's top table. In other words, their position wouldn't be much weaker than it was at the start of this season. The key issue is whether or not Mata is good enough to get them there on his own. It's all speculation from here on out, but given how he held a sub-standard Chelsea team together through similarly uncomfortable circumstances last year, has a history of crucial match-winning goals and, with regular football and a manager who believes in him, all the creativity and intelligence needed to reinvigorate United's attack - even with Rooney and Van Persie injured, he'd be fearsome with a poacher like Chicharito in front of him - all signs are pointing to 'yes'. Chelsea have already helped Liverpool's steady resurrection thanks to the cut-price sale of Daniel Sturridge. Are they really going to make the same mistake twice?