Mata takes helicopter to United

LONDON. — New Manchester United signing Juan Mata arrived at the club’s training ground yesterday by helicopter to complete his move from Chelsea. The £37million man from Chelsea flew from Battersea in south London straight to United’s training ground, where a temporary landing pad was arranged.

Sources close to the player have revealed yesterday that Mata had been told things are being put in place for his arrival at Carrington.
He was told to get ready to leave his apartment in Chelsea at short notice and travel to a helicopter flight base in nearby Battersea.

Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho signed off on the deal following talks with club executives. United chief Ed Woodward agreed to break the club’s transfer record for Mata as they attempt to salvage their season.

Once in Manchester, the Spanish play-maker was due to have a look round United’s impressive training base, meet manager David Moyes and then head to the Bridgewater Hospital near the city centre for a medical.

United do not have a game this weekend as they are already out of the FA Cup but it is hoped that Mata will train with his new team-mates today and be ready for next Tuesday’s home game against Cardiff in the Barclays Premier League.

Meanwhile, Greater Manchester Police have advised Manchester United supporters not to ring 999 if they want to speak to Sir Alex Ferguson after a drunk supporter did just that.

The inebriated fan had called the emergency number in the immediate aftermath of the Capital One Cup semi-final defeat on penalties by Sunderland and demanded to have a chat with Ferguson about the team’s fortunes.

The fan, like thousands of others, had watched on aghast as United somehow conspired to knock themselves out of the cup and fail to set up a Wembley final with rivals Manchester City next month.

The game was a microcosm of United’s season. They went ahead thanks to Jonny Evans but failed to hammer home their advantage and rather limped to penalties after Phil Bardsley – thanks to an horrific David De Gea mistake – had looked like giving the visitors a win in extra time.

However, in an echo of Ferguson’s old teams, Javier Hernandez equalised in added time to take the game to penalties.
Phil Jones, Rafael, Danny Welbeck and Adnan Januzaj then all missed in the shoot-out as Sunderland progressed.

United’s on-field problems were compounded yesterday when they dropped out of the top three of the world’s top-earning clubs for the first time. United fell to fourth in the latest Deloitte Football Money League behind leaders Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern Munich based on income during the 2012/13 season.

International financial services firm Deloitte have been compiling the table since 1997 and for the first eight years United were the biggest-earning club in the world.

However, they’ve since been overtaken by Spanish giants Real and Barcelona and now Bayern following the German club’s impressive treble-winning season.

But Deloitte forecast United would reclaim third place from Bayern next year, although a failure to qualify for the lucrative European Champions League could have a damaging effect on the club’s long-term finances.

“It is the first time Manchester United have dropped out of the top three but Bayern had an exceptional year,” said Dan Jones of Deloitte’s sports business group.

Qatari-owned Paris St Germain rose to fifth in the standings ahead of Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal.
With Spanish clubs being able to negotiate their own individual, as opposed to collective, television deals, Real Madrid top the Money League for the ninth consecutive year, with total revenue of 518.9m euros (£444.7m), followed by Barcelona with 482.6m euro (£413.6m).

Bayern are third with earnings of 431.2m euros (£369.6m), followed by Manchester United with 423.8m euros (£363.2m) and PSG, with 398.8m euros (£341.8m). Manchester City are sixth with 316.2m euros (£271m), then Chelsea 303.4m euros (£260m) and Arsenal 284.3m euros (£243.6m).

Italian sides Juventus (272.4m euros, £233.5m) and AC Milan (263.5m euros, 225.8m euros) complete a top 10 that no longer includes England’s Liverpool, who’ve slipped to 12th place with revenue of 240.6m euros (£206m). — Mailonline/AFP.