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http://www.oneworldsports.com/stories/chelsea-acquire-nemanja-matic-after-drama/
It took more than half a year to get Roman Abramovich to sanction the purchase, but Jose Mourinho finally has his man. When Chelsea's returning manager delivered his plans for the restructure of a badly imbalanced squad last summer, Nemanja Matic was central to it. The midfielder is ideally suited to astutely turn defense into attack, the core of Mourinho's football.
That the transfer took until January to happen came down to two factors. First, Benfica judged the market's interest in a player who'd excelled in their run to a Europa League Final meeting with Chelsea sufficient to refer shoppers to the €50million buyout clause in his recently improved contract. Second, whatever figure Chelsea managed to negotiate that down to would still represent an embarrassing mark-up on the pittance they'd let Matic join Benfica three years ago.
That winter window, the Serbia international was a 22-year-old cog in the Abramovich global talent machine. Acquired from Slovak side FC Kosice 16 months previously, he'd been through one anonymous season at Stamford Bridge before being shifted out on loan to Dutch feeder club Vitesse Arnhem. Under Carlo Ancelotti, active service amounted to three second-half substitute appearances in easy victories over W-clubs. Twenty-one minutes in a 4-0 defeat of Wolves, 26 minutes in a 5-0 with Watford, and 21 in an 8-0 with Wigan.
When Benfica announced the €25m sale of David Luiz to the Portuguese stock market in January 2011, the young midfielder they took from Chelsea to sweeten the deal didn't even merit a fiscal valuation. “Please note that the agreement also provides for the outright transfer of all economic and sporting rights of the international athlete Nemanja Matic,” the Lisbon club stated.
As Abramovich did not achieve obscene affluence by selling low and buying high, Matic's return to Stamford Bridge required patience and good fortune. By late autumn, Mourinho knew his midfield was dangerously overstretched. Marco van Ginkel's young legs had been lost to a season-ending injury and Frank Lampard was too old to play every game. Though Mourinho loved Ramires' dynamism in the center of the field, he needed a player alongside him who could use the ball more intelligently.
Again the Portuguese preferred Matic, yet once more loomed the brick wall of price and history. “Benfica want too much money,” was the word as an alternative target was proposed. With Internazionale floating a fee of £15m for Fredy Guarin, Mourinho approved a move for him. Guarin's advisors were asked to state terms for joining and, according to a well-placed source, asked for €4.5m a year, after tax, a €1m net increase on his Inter salary.
Big mistake. Chelsea were informed that the former FC Porto midfielder was actually on just €2.5m net in Italy and terminated their interest. All very principled, yet not at all helpful to their manager.
Then came Matic's own tactical intervention. The Serb felt he'd developed as much as he could in Lisbon and wanted the opportunity to prove himself again at Chelsea. He also knew Benfica president Luis Filipe Vieira scented a big payday; one likely to be too large for Abramovich to approve.
The player himself denies it, but Matic came up with a joker. On Sunday night, Benfica were due to face Porto -- their biggest home match of the season. Matic arrived three hours late for his team's overnight “concentration.” According to multiple sources, his tardiness was intentional; the result of a threat not to turn out in the top-of-the-table encounter unless Vieira accepted Chelsea's lowball offer.
Matic played, Benfica won 2-0, and by the next evening their star midfielder was giving an interview to Portuguese sports daily A Bola in which he announced the win had been “my last game” for Benfica, and that “I wanted to go to Chelsea, even if Benfica had better options.”
Vieira was said to be “furious” over the corner Matic had painted him into, angered at the straight cash fee of €25m he'd been forced to agree with Chelsea, and frustrated by their refusal to include Oriol Romeu as a Matic-like makeweight in the transaction. The Spain under-21 midfielder remains on loan at Valencia.
Chelsea's PR position on the embarrassing buyback is strengthened by the imminent sale of Kevin De Bruyne to Wolfsburg in a deal that is understood to be worth an initial £16m. Performance-related variables could inflate that take to £25m. Not bad for a 22-year-old reserve who showed no appetite for taking tactical lessons from Mourinho.
Matic flew to London on Tuesday, having disavowed the personal strike story -- “It never crossed my mind, nor did I make any kind of threat,” he told A Bola -- and promised Abramovich value for some grudgingly invested cash.
“When I first went to Chelsea I was very young and there were great players in my position,” he said. “To be honest, I really had little chance to play back then. Now it's different. I'm 25; I'm not the same player who left Chelsea. I'm sure he [Abramovich] knows that. Now I have the opportunity to go back and work with one of the best managers in the world.”
A grand day for Mourinho and Matic. Not quite so promising for Manchester City.
It took more than half a year to get Roman Abramovich to sanction the purchase, but Jose Mourinho finally has his man. When Chelsea's returning manager delivered his plans for the restructure of a badly imbalanced squad last summer, Nemanja Matic was central to it. The midfielder is ideally suited to astutely turn defense into attack, the core of Mourinho's football.
That the transfer took until January to happen came down to two factors. First, Benfica judged the market's interest in a player who'd excelled in their run to a Europa League Final meeting with Chelsea sufficient to refer shoppers to the €50million buyout clause in his recently improved contract. Second, whatever figure Chelsea managed to negotiate that down to would still represent an embarrassing mark-up on the pittance they'd let Matic join Benfica three years ago.
That winter window, the Serbia international was a 22-year-old cog in the Abramovich global talent machine. Acquired from Slovak side FC Kosice 16 months previously, he'd been through one anonymous season at Stamford Bridge before being shifted out on loan to Dutch feeder club Vitesse Arnhem. Under Carlo Ancelotti, active service amounted to three second-half substitute appearances in easy victories over W-clubs. Twenty-one minutes in a 4-0 defeat of Wolves, 26 minutes in a 5-0 with Watford, and 21 in an 8-0 with Wigan.
When Benfica announced the €25m sale of David Luiz to the Portuguese stock market in January 2011, the young midfielder they took from Chelsea to sweeten the deal didn't even merit a fiscal valuation. “Please note that the agreement also provides for the outright transfer of all economic and sporting rights of the international athlete Nemanja Matic,” the Lisbon club stated.
As Abramovich did not achieve obscene affluence by selling low and buying high, Matic's return to Stamford Bridge required patience and good fortune. By late autumn, Mourinho knew his midfield was dangerously overstretched. Marco van Ginkel's young legs had been lost to a season-ending injury and Frank Lampard was too old to play every game. Though Mourinho loved Ramires' dynamism in the center of the field, he needed a player alongside him who could use the ball more intelligently.
Again the Portuguese preferred Matic, yet once more loomed the brick wall of price and history. “Benfica want too much money,” was the word as an alternative target was proposed. With Internazionale floating a fee of £15m for Fredy Guarin, Mourinho approved a move for him. Guarin's advisors were asked to state terms for joining and, according to a well-placed source, asked for €4.5m a year, after tax, a €1m net increase on his Inter salary.
Big mistake. Chelsea were informed that the former FC Porto midfielder was actually on just €2.5m net in Italy and terminated their interest. All very principled, yet not at all helpful to their manager.
Then came Matic's own tactical intervention. The Serb felt he'd developed as much as he could in Lisbon and wanted the opportunity to prove himself again at Chelsea. He also knew Benfica president Luis Filipe Vieira scented a big payday; one likely to be too large for Abramovich to approve.
The player himself denies it, but Matic came up with a joker. On Sunday night, Benfica were due to face Porto -- their biggest home match of the season. Matic arrived three hours late for his team's overnight “concentration.” According to multiple sources, his tardiness was intentional; the result of a threat not to turn out in the top-of-the-table encounter unless Vieira accepted Chelsea's lowball offer.
Matic played, Benfica won 2-0, and by the next evening their star midfielder was giving an interview to Portuguese sports daily A Bola in which he announced the win had been “my last game” for Benfica, and that “I wanted to go to Chelsea, even if Benfica had better options.”
Vieira was said to be “furious” over the corner Matic had painted him into, angered at the straight cash fee of €25m he'd been forced to agree with Chelsea, and frustrated by their refusal to include Oriol Romeu as a Matic-like makeweight in the transaction. The Spain under-21 midfielder remains on loan at Valencia.
Chelsea's PR position on the embarrassing buyback is strengthened by the imminent sale of Kevin De Bruyne to Wolfsburg in a deal that is understood to be worth an initial £16m. Performance-related variables could inflate that take to £25m. Not bad for a 22-year-old reserve who showed no appetite for taking tactical lessons from Mourinho.
Matic flew to London on Tuesday, having disavowed the personal strike story -- “It never crossed my mind, nor did I make any kind of threat,” he told A Bola -- and promised Abramovich value for some grudgingly invested cash.
“When I first went to Chelsea I was very young and there were great players in my position,” he said. “To be honest, I really had little chance to play back then. Now it's different. I'm 25; I'm not the same player who left Chelsea. I'm sure he [Abramovich] knows that. Now I have the opportunity to go back and work with one of the best managers in the world.”
A grand day for Mourinho and Matic. Not quite so promising for Manchester City.
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