Is Rooney key to Chelsea selling Mata to United?

It doesn't make any sense to me to sell your best player from last season to a rival, especially if that rival is struggling for creative players.

So why would Chelsea sell Juan Mata to Manchester United? They don't need the money, they don't want to help United improve and although Mata wants to get into the Spain squad for the World Cup, Chelsea don't care about that.

All I can think is that United are giving Chelsea first refusal on Wayne Rooney. I can't see Rooney staying at Old Trafford if they don't make the Champions League - and there would be lots of teams interested in the fat, bald man (although he may have just had his hair done again).

He'd be a great fit at Chelsea, and Jose Mourinho is a long-time admirer. I think Mourinho would love to take Wayne back to Old Trafford as his player too - he's just that type of vengeful villain we all love to hate, but actually quite like.

Selling Mata won't have any impact on Chelsea, and they can always buy him back if he start to be really good again (as they did with Nemanja Matic). But if United are even contemplating putting Rooney on the table as bait, then they can only lose from here. If Rooney goes, so will RvP, then they'll be in a world of trouble - or realistically, they'll just become another average club like Liverpool have been for the last 20 years.