Now that the deal has been announced officially, the method in which United have gone about doing this piece of business reveals that it leads all the way back to the summer and to their striker Wayne Rooney. As it turns out, the reigning English champions adopted the services of several intermediaries to take the back door route and get in touch with Mata while evading direct contact with Chelsea in the early stages of the deal.

The story for the reason of their approach starts in the summer. The Blues approached David Moyes with a lucrative bid for Rooney, only for their bid to be bluntly turned down by United, who were unwilling to listen to any offers for their talisman, especially from Chelsea – their direct domestic rivals. The relations between the two clubs have been strained ever since; and now when came the time for United to bid for Mata, they feared that this sour experience might be a deal breaker.

Therefore, as the Independent understands United adopted the less used approach of contacting Mata via third parties, behind Chelsea’s back. Once they got in contact and the negotiations reached a stage of mutual acceptance, Chelsea were then made aware of the progress and perhaps, the player’s wish to quit the club. Good for everyone involved that Chelsea complied to allow matters to advance smoothly, which ended with Mata being announced as Moyes’ second acquisition as United manager for a club record fee of £37.1million with the Spaniard due to make his home debut vs Cardiff on Tuesday night in the League when the Red Devils face old striker Ole Gunnar Solskaer for the first time since he took over in South Wales.