SOCCER:CHELSEA HOPE to succeed where Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur failed earlier this summer by prising the Spain winger Juan Mata from Valencia as Andre Villas-Boas's side step up their attempts to add to their squad before the transfer window ends.
Mata has joined Luka Modric and Raul Meireles as a target for Chelsea, who are understood to have made an informal inquiry to the Spanish club as to the 23-year-old’s potential availability. The player had effectively been on the market for €25 million until July 31st but a buyout clause in his contract expired then, allowing Valencia to dictate the fee.
Spurs had indicated a willingness to meet the €25 million price before the cut-off only for Mata to show no interest in moving to White Hart Lane as he wishes to play Champions League football.
Arsenal were unable to table an acceptable bid in time while talks over Cesc Fabregas’s prospective move to Barcelona dragged on. Arsene Wenger’s team still technically have an offer on the table for Mata, though Chelsea appear to have leapfrogged them in the pecking order for the winger.
Their initial hopes of securing him for a similar fee to the original buyout clause appear to have been rebuffed, with Valencia pushing for €30 million before they will release the player.
Yet that would be within Chelsea’s reach and Villas-Boas is anxious to add natural width to his line-up. Interest is also retained in Modric, still the team’s principal target, and the Liverpool midfielder Raul Meireles, who is in effect available at Anfield and would add to Chelsea’s midfield options with Yossi Benayoun still expected to move on before the end of the month.
Arsenal’s resources have been left so stretched for Saturday’s visit of Liverpool that Arsene Wenger is expected to hand the teenage defender Carl Jenkinson, who has made only seven career starts, all in League One, a Premier League debut for the game at the Emirates.
Wenger lost both Kieran Gibbs and Johan Djourou to hamstring injuries during the 1-0 Champions League qualifying victory over Udinese on Tuesday night, following Armand Traore limping out of a reserve-team victory over Manchester United after nine minutes on Monday. None of the trio is likely to be available against Liverpool, leaving Jenkinson, a €1.5 million signing from Charlton Athletic this summer, on the verge of a first top-flight start.
The teenager impressed upon replacing Djourou for the last 34 minutes against Udinese, though the elevation into the first team for such a key early-season league fixture, potentially to confront Luis Suarez, represents something of a daunting introduction. Add to that the sales of Emmanuel Eboue to Galatasaray, Carlos Vela’s loan to Real Sociedad and Nicklas Bendtner’s anticipated imminent departure and Arsenal’s squad appears in a state of flux.
GuardianService
