Chelsea make £27m bid for Valencia's Spanish international winger Juan Mata

Chelsea have bid £27 million for the Spanish international Juan Mata as manager Andre Villas-Boas made a decisive move to improve his squad before the transfer window closes.

The offer is expected to secure the 23 year-old from Valencia who are likely to accept the bid ahead of interest from Tottenham Hotspur.

Arsenal dropped their interest in Mata last week, having allowed a £22 million buy-out clause in his contract to expire, and it now appears that was probably in response to Chelsea’s intervention and the knowledge they would trump any offer.

Villas-Boas is keen to add pace, creativity and width to the team and has agreed that Mata would be an important addition to his squad.

Valencia do not want to sell so close to the start of the Spanish season but Mata is agitating for a move.

Although Mata predominantly plays on the left, the move does not mean that Chelsea have dropped their interest in Porto’s Alvaro Pereira. The Uruguayan can play as a full-back or wing-back while Mata is also adaptable and can even play through the middle if required.

Chelsea's keeper headache for West Brom clash

Chelsea's keeper headache for West Brom clash


Andre Villas-Boas faces an early goalkeeping dilemma at Chelsea after Petr Cech was ruled out for up to four weeks with a knee ligament problem ahead of the visit of West Bromwich Albion. Cech was injured when he fell under the weight of a colleague during training this week and 

Villas-Boas must now decide whether Hilario or Ross Turnbull should replace the Czech Republic international.

The new manager would have preferred to avoid making an enforced change to his defensive unit as he seeks his first Premier League win having been held to a scoreless draw by Stoke City in the opening game.

West Brom are unlikely to pose a similar physical threat as Stoke, but Villas-Boas is anxious to get Chelsea's title challenge underway.

"Petr Cech suffered a medial ligament injury and will be out for three to four weeks," said the manager.
   
"It was the end of training, normal training incident. He fell awkwardly with his weight on top of him and he stretched a little bit the medial ligament.
   
"We expected much worse when we saw the incident. He's made the MRI and the good news is it's just three to four weeks."
   
Villas-Boas' options will be strengthened for the West Brom game by the arrival of Reomelu Lukaku from Anderlecht and the teenager will go straight into the squad but defender David Luiz will again be missing with a thigh problem.
   
With a trip to Old Trafford to face Manchester United looming in mid-September, Villas-Boas is anxious to have accumulated as many points as possible before the meeting with the champions.
   
And this game followed by another home fixture against newly promoted Norwich, the manager is targeting six points from the next two outings.
   
"We have two games at home that we must do everything in our power to get three points out of both, because it's seven points and can get us into a good position," he added. "It's two games at home and you have to win them.
   
"West Brom, as you saw last week (against Manchester United), provokes a very, very difficult challenge, because they held Man United - the Champions League finalists - up to the 80th minute."
   
West Brom were thrashed 6-0 at Stamford Bridge on the opening weekend of last season when Chelsea assistant manager Roberto Di Matteo was still the Baggies manager.
   
His successor, Roy Hodgson, has made them a more solid unit, however the veteran coach has warned they face a challenge every bit as tough as that presented last weekend by United, who required a late goal to beat them 2-1.
   
"I think we showed against Manchester United we are not a bad football team," Hodgson said.
   
"I know people will flag up last year, it went badly for us, but you can't turn back the clock. Our aim is to go there and get a positive result, which is anything from a draw to a win.
   
"My message to the players is it will be every bit as tough and we will have to work every bit as hard as against Manchester United to stand a chance."
   
Hodgson also said the Baggies remain hopeful free agent Owen Hargreaves will agree to join them following further discussions with their sporting and technical director Dan Ashworth.
   
"Dan has had further talks with him and they have been relatively positive," Hodgson added. "I don't know if further talks are planned but we believe he's capable of playing top-flight football again and we're very interested in him. "
   
The Baggies will make a late decision on whether striker Peter Odemwingie (ankle) is fit to play, two days after the Nigerian agreed a new three-year deal with the club.
   
Gareth McAuley could return after illness but Jerome Thomas (groin) and Zoltan Gera (suspended) miss out again, however

Football transfer rumours: Liverpool's Raul Meireles to Chelsea?

Is Raul Meireles about to move his mohawk from Liverpool to Chelsea? Photograph: Phil Noble/Reuters

So then Britain, how are you feeling the morning after the day before? Strange, isn't it, waking up to the usual fume-filled skies, the sound of commuters tutting at delayed trains and the sight of Foot Locker branches smoldering into rubble, but now living in a world where Cesc Fábregas actually plays for Barcelona.

We love nothing more in this country than a drawn-out transfer saga, especially one that leads to the protagonist seeing his life's work played out to the sound of The Police's Every Breath You Take. So given events in Catalonia there is an understandable sense of mourning on these shores right now. Some may never recover.

Fear, not, however, as post-Cesc we still have a suitcase's worth of 'will they, won't theys' to get our hearts stuck into…

Staying in London, Chelsea are considering making a bid forLiverpool's Raul Meireles. The heavily tattooed Portuguese midfielder has seemingly fallen out of favour with Kenny Dalglish – he only came on a substitute during Saturday's 1-1 draw with Sunderland at Anfield – and, given the club's excessive collection of central players, is now available for transfer. Chelsea are frustrated over their attempts to sign Luka Modric from Tottenham Hotspur and with the manager, André Villas-Boas, acutely aware of Meireles's talents from their time together at Porto a move for the 28-year-old does seem plausible. Liverpool will, though, want close to £12m for the player.

Should Meireles join Chelsea he is unlikely to be playing alongsideNicolas Anelka, with the Frenchman so furious at being left out of the team that started at Stoke on Sunday that he has now decided he wants to leave Stamford Bridge. The 32-year-old has a year left on his contract and has already been linked with a return to Paris St Germain this summer.

Moving from France to England could well be the "Sochaux hitman"Modibo Maiga, who has gone on strike in an attempt to force through a transfer to Newcastle. Alan Pardew has bid £7m for the Mali international, who scored 15 goals in Ligue 1 last season, and simply cannot wait to chuck him in the direction of Joey Barton.

Another striker on the move could be Everton's Jermaine Beckford, who is wanted by both Nottingham Forest and Leicester City, with both Championship clubs willing to spend in the region of £3m for the player. Bolton, meanwhile, are focusing their sights on another Merseyside-based goalscorer in David Ngog and will return to Liverpool this week with an improved £4m bid for the Frenchman.

Elsewhere, West Bromwich Albion have placed an £8m price-tag on Peter Odemwingie after the 30-year-old was the subject of a"ludicrous" £1.5m bid by Wigan at the weekend, while Leeds are considering giving a trial to the former Birmingham and Chelsea forwardMikael Forssell.

Blackburn manager Steve Kean, fresh from being done for drink driving, is considering making a big for the Stoke defender Andy Wilkinson while Spurs, fresh from allowing Robbie Keane to fulfil yet another boyhood dream by joining LA Galaxy, are moving ever closer to signing Emmanuel Adebayor on loan from Manchester City.

And finally, a story guaranteed to perk up this devastated land; Wigan are close to signing Jessua Angoy, the 18-year-old grandson of Dutch legend Johan Cruyff. If Jordi Cruyff's time at Manchester United is anything to go by, we're in for one heck of a ride.