This should not happen! City boss Pellegrini joins Wenger in criticising Chelsea for selling Mata to rivals United



Manuel Pellegrini has added his voice to criticism of Juan Mata’s move to Manchester United and called for a change to the way the January transfer window operates.

The Manchester City manager admitted United were signing a ‘very good player’ in £37million playmaker Mata and described it as ‘strange’ that Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho had not picked him more often.

‘United are getting a very good player, but personally I do not agree that a transfer like this can happen in the middle of the season,’ he said. ‘I do not think a player should be allowed to go from one club to another in the same league in January.

Not happy: Pellegrini is not impressed with Chelsea's sale of Juan Mata at this stage of the season

Heading north: Mata is close to sealing a £37million switch to join Manchester United this week

Smiles better: Wenger oversees training on Thursday

‘It is not correct at this stage of the season. Maybe Arsene Wenger had a correct reason, when he pointed out Chelsea have already played United home and away, but my argument is a more general one.



'I just feel that if a player has made more than five or six appearances for his club, then he cannot join another one in the same league at the midway point.

‘I just think if a player plays for a club for more than half of the season, a club with money can take the best players from the other teams.



'The rules are the rules, so you play by them, but I just think they should change. I am not saying scrap the January window, just change it.

‘I don’t particularly think Chelsea will gain an advantage from this. Maybe Manchester United have an advantage because Chelsea wanted to sell him.



'Maybe United have an advantage in this case. I am talking about general reasons and not the specific reason that they have played already against them. I think in this transfer window, players that play more than five or six games for the same club cannot change to another.

‘I do think Mata is a very good player. It is a shame he didn’t play often this year at Chelsea. That was strange, but I think United buy a very good player.’

Mourinho hit back at Wenger on Friday, saying that Chelsea do abide by the rules.

Star man: Mata was Chelsea's player of the season for two year straight before Mourinho re-joined the club

'Wenger complaining is normal because he always does,' said Mourinho.

'But when a player plays for a club on the 20th of August and two weeks later on the fifth of September plays against the same clubs with a different shirt this is normal. This is the market. We don’t make the rules. We abide by them.'

On Thursday, Wenger insinuated Chelsea have used transfer regulations to their advantage in selling Mata to United.

While Chelsea’s decision to part with Mata has surprised Wenger, the Arsenal manager says Jose Mourinho has been clever in agreeing to the playmaker’s sale.

Bothered? Mourinho insists Chelsea are abiding by the rules in their sale of the Spanish midfielder

I am surprised by the move because Juan Mata is a great player and they sell a great player to a direct opponent,’ said Wenger.

‘But it opens a little bit the opportunity of this transfer market because Chelsea have already played twice against Manchester United so they don’t play again any more.'

Pellegrini was coy over claims by former City boss Roberto Mancini that he deserved more credit for this season’s spectacular form but was adamant there was still more to come from his Barclays Premier League title favourites.

‘I don’t think nothing about that,’ he said. ‘It is his opinion, and everyone can say what he thinks is true. Do I agree with him? I am not the best person to analyse it. It is not for me or him to compare.

‘But what I can say is, we will carry on playing the same way, trying to win games and score goals. Will we run out of steam?



Test: Manchester City's Alvaro Negredo (centre) celebrates scoring his second goal against West Ham 'No, I don’t think we are going to have some problems in that sense. Maybe we will have problems with other teams, they are good teams, but I think we are making good rotations during the whole year. Also the way we play we have a lot of possession of the ball so we rest also by not always running after the ball. ‘Our style of play is something that, of course, we are going to try and continue until the end. I don’t know if we are going to win all the games but we are going to try to continue. I said from the beginning of the season that the most important thing is to have a style and after that to have 11 starters who suit it.’ Asked about speculation linking him with Real Madrid centre-back Pepe, Pellegrini said: ‘If we talk about the all the offers this club made we have at least eight goalkeepers, five centre backs, nine forwards. No news for the moment. Exactly the same with any possible outgoing moves. No news.’