Juan Mata swap deal for Wayne Rooney a 'hypothetical' scenario - Jose Mourinho

Wayne Rooney

Jose Mourinho diplomatically turned down the question over Juan Mata’s future, and does not rule out a potential swap deal with Manchester United in his quest to sign Wayne Rooney.

The Spaniard’s future has been subject to constant speculation ever since Mourinho’s arrival at Stamford Bridge. Although former Real Madrid boss has rejected the rumours of Mata’s sale; Willian’s arrival has cast further doubt over the Spaniard’s place in the Chelsea team.

Earlier in the summer, reports surfaced that the midfielder was included in Chelsea’s first bid for Rooney, but the club subsequently maintained that the offer was a straight cash deal.

According to Metro, when asked specifically about what will happen if Manchester United asks for Mata in exchange for Rooney, Mourinho replied: ‘That’s hypothetical, because they didn’t ask.

‘The two answers we got from Manchester United is “we don’t accept the bid”, “we’re not interested in selling the player”.

‘That’s the only official contact we had with Man United. Till Monday, we have nothing more to add to it.

“We make the bid, and they say no again. What do we lose? One email.”

Juan Mata

Mourinho was disappointed with United’s approach of not selling Rooney to their Premier League rivals, citing the example of Italy where he has previously worked with Inter Milan.

“To me it is not a difficult decision because you want very much to keep Rooney or you don’t want to keep him?” added Mourinho.

“But that old-fashioned mentality of, ‘I don’t sell players to clubs in the same country’ – I think doesn’t help.

“Sometimes you push players abroad when you should be keeping them in your league because then you are contributing to making your league the best league.

“You see in Italy it happens every season without any problems. Filippo Inzaghi played for Juventus, Milan. From the big players, only Francesco Totti stayed for life. Andrea Pirlo – Inter, Milan, Juventus,” Mourinho suggested.