Trusted pundit claims Mata is off in January.
Manchester United are preparing to offload Juan Mata this January in an attempt to sign Kevin Strootman from AS Roma, according to talkSPORT presenter Stan Collymore.
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The Red Devils have named Mata on the bench today against Leicester City, and Collymore has tweeted several times that he thinks the Spanish playmaker is not in Louis van Gaal’s first-team plans for this season.
United have been linked several times with a move for Strootman, who is thought to be a favourite of his fellow countryman van Gaal, whom he has played under for the Netherlands national team.
With the 24-year-old recently being slapped with a whopping £60m asking price, however, it would make sense that United might try and bring that fee down by offering Mata to Roma as part of the deal.
Former Liverpool striker Collymore, who has a decent record with exclusive transfer stories, is confident the deal will happen, drawing comparisons with Mata’s situation at Old Trafford and his final few months at previous club Chelsea.
Writing on SportsYapper, Collymore said: “My assertion that Mata will be used as bait to get Strootman in January all of a sudden looking very credible indeed. leaving out a player in form, who’s not injured is a huge statement, especially with no European football making rotation necessary. @talkSPORT ON AIR”