With the announcement by Sky Sport via their Twitter account that the Juan Mata to Manchester United will not be officially announced by either club until Friday, there leaves the glimmer of hope that another club can swoop in for the Spaniard. Call it false hope or desperation but the fact that neither club have confirmed the transfer also lends credence to the theory that Chelsea is biding their time with the deal. With transfer deadline day still a week away there is still of plenty of time for another bid to be placed on the Spaniard.

Sky Sources @juanmata10 to have medical at Manchester UTD this evening and deal is expected to be announced tomorrow #SSN — Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) January 23, 2014

Chelsea has made it a point in recent years to make their transfer deadlines as secretive as possible until the last moment. The Nemanja Matic deal just a week ago was very much under the radar until perhaps a day or two before it was official and at that point the player had confirmed the talks himself. The same goes for the Mohamed Salah transfer which is still pending a physical. There was no talk on the popular transfer rumor sites about the deal even being a possibility until yesterday, less than day before Chelsea itself announced that a deal was in place.

The amount of hoopla surrounding the Mata transfer leads one to believe, or hope, that this is the club’s way of announcing the player is for sale, and naming a price, without the indignity of actually doing so. The price of 40 million pounds is a fine sum for a player on the club’s bench but it seems a pittance for a player of the quality of Mata. However, if Chelsea are indeed forced to sell and the player requested a transfer, would the club accept 5-10 million pounds less from a foreign club? They would be crazy not to.

One would think that if PSG, Bayern Munich, or “insert any foreign club here” picked up the phone and offered 30 million pounds for the Spaniard, Chelsea would do it in a heartbeat. If not a full sale then why not a loan? The prospect of possibly facing Mata once or twice in the next few years in the Champions’ League is far less daunting than dealing with him in the league and cup competitions for the foreseeable future. So consider this a message to Jose to send emails/texts/faxes to any and all clubs with the financial clout to make this purchase to come and get the little playmaker.