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What's the story?
Inter Milan have been performing well in Serie A this season. At one point, they were on top of the league but a handful of recent defeats sees them in third currently, seven points below leaders Napoli.
With aspirations to qualify for the Champions League next term, things are going well thus far. However, they are keen to continue improving and reinforcements could be an effective way in helping their squad strengthen over time.
According to reports in the Mirror, the Italians are keeping tabs on Manchester United midfielder Juan Mata and are interested in signing him.
In case you didn't know...
Mata's current deal in Manchester expires at the end of the current campaign, but United have an option to extend it by a further 12-month period. At present, it's unlikely that the club will not extend his contract, especially as they'll be keen to earn some transfer fee return from the £37.1m that David Moyes spent to acquire his services from Chelsea in January 2014.
There were rumours that Mourinho was happy to sell the creative midfielder last summer, but the Spaniard has kept his head down and continued being an important player in the final third when selected.
In the Premier League this season, Mata has netted three and assisted three more - while creating 31 goalscoring chances in 17 appearances to date.
The heart of the matter
Mourinho was also happy to offload Mata this time four years ago, as then Chelsea manager. Transfer links continue to speculate about a potential reunion between José and Arsenal's Mesut Özil, who has six months remaining on his existing deal at the Emirates.
If the creative German does not put pen to paper on a new contract, it's becoming increasingly likely that Mourinho will make a formal approach and could then be willing to let Mata leave.
Inter are understandably keeping a close eye on the situation and could make an audacious bid this month to potentially test the waters.
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Author's take
If United manage to sign Özil, they will have no qualms about letting Mata depart. The Spaniard has been an important player and a shrewd acquisition, but a player of Mesut's quality is unlikely to let the supporters miss his absence.
However, Arsenal are increasingly unlikely to sell Özil - not least as they're still trying to convince him into signing new terms. It will be interesting to see how things unfold but a lot of things have to fall in place before this becomes a realistic switch.
