Player Focus: Chelsea's Apparent Rooney Offer Devalues Mata

Wayne Rooney recently claimed to be confused and angry regarding comments made suggesting that he was seen as a back-up to Robin van Persie. Those emotions now seem to have filtered through fans of both United and Chelsea, who are seemingly at the front of the queue for the England international's signature, after the Red Devils reportedly rejected a quite bizarre offer from the Blues.

The deal is widely reported to have seen Juan Mata - voted Chelsea of the Year in each of his two seasons with the club - used as a bargaining chip along with £10m for the United forward. The fact that any such offer may have been made in the first place has rightly bemused the Chelsea faithful, while the majority of United fans are struggling to come to terms with why it was not accepted.

With a number of players already choosing to turn their back on interest from the Premier League this summer it seems the top English clubs have now been left with no choice but to trade amongst themselves.

The general consensus from both sets of supporters seems to be that Chelsea's apparent offer seems extremely generous, with many claiming that Rooney's form has been in steady decline recently. That much, however, is certainly up for debate.

The two players stats are certainly comparable from last season, with both playing similar roles for their respective sides after Wayne Rooney was deployed in a more withdrawn position following the arrival of van Persie. In turn, while both contributed with a decent number of goals (12 each) the pairing were tasked with the creative duties behind the lone striker more often than not, with Mata (12) just getting the edge over Rooney (10) in terms of assists.

However, when you consider that the latter started just 22 Premier League games last season his stats are clearly not as modest as they may seem initially. In said starts he picked up a combined tally of 21 goals and assists at a rate of 0.95 per start, with only Messi, Ronaldo, Ibrahimovic, Lewandowski and Ribery bettering that figure in Europe's top 5 leagues.

The former Everton man was one place ahead of teammate van Persie (0.94) in that respect, and while Mata's figure of 0.77 remains impressive it is some way back on that of Rooney.

The Spaniard does come out on top when looking at the duo's stats from last season in a number of areas though. In terms of his passing Mata averaged 52.5 per game with Rooney back on 45.8, while he was also more accurate with his attempts (85.2% to 82.9%). The statistic where the Chelsea man was perhaps most superior, however, came in terms of key passes per game, with Mata's 2.7 only bettered by Silva and Baines in the Premier League, and a significant advance on Rooney's 1.8.

As perhaps could be expected, Rooney's shot accuracy is the better of the two (40.7% to 34.3%) but Mata required fewer shots for his equal goal tally. The Spain international had a chance conversion rate of 17.1% last season to Rooney's 14%, with only five players averaging more shots per game than the Englishman (3.2) in the top-flight.

A look at the average touches heat maps of each player (above) proves that Rooney tends to roam about the pitch a little more often. It's an aspect of his game that has been applauded and criticised in equal measure, with some putting it down to an exceptional work rate and others to a positional naivety. Neverthless, the image above proves that the 27-year old was still willing to put in the mileage last season despite the questions that have been raised with regards to his commitment to United recently.

Mata prefers to find pockets between the midfield and attack more often, drifting towards either flank but rarely having much of an impact in Chelsea's own half. Instead he is the player they look to in transition to carry the ball and pick out that telling pass in the final third. United's reluctance to accept his services may be due to their eagerness to play Shinji Kagawa in a more central role, while Rooney would likely revert to a centre forward position were he to move to Stamford Bridge.

A look at the win ratios of each of the sides with and without the two players starting last season also brings about some interesting results. Both had a positive effect on results, though United maintained an impressive win rate without Rooney (68.8%), while Chelsea really struggled without Mata. The Blues started 7 league matches without the 25-year old in the XI last season and won just once (14.3%).

While the difference between the pairings impact on win ratios last season is substantial, it shouldn't detract from Wayne Rooney's contribution, with United winning an improved 77.3% of the 22 games he started. It's more apparent that the re-appointed Jose Mourinho may well be taking Mata's effect on this Chelsea side far too lightly, with the Blues winning 67.7% of the 31 games in which he featured from kick off.

In summary, conclusions that Wayne Rooney can't affect a game in the way that he used to may well be premature, but the valuation of the two from the suggested Chelsea offer is off the mark. The clearest indication that the players' are far more evenly matched than the bid makes out is perhaps their respective average WhoScored ratings, with Rooney the finest of margins ahead (7.25 to 7.24).