ONE of the biggest surprises of the transfer window so far has been the sale of Nemanja Matic from Chelsea to Manchester United for US$40 million. Yes, Chelsea have signed what seems to be an upgrade in Tiémoué Bakayoko for the same price in the same position, and at just 22, the promising France midfielder offers many more years of service than Matic. Plus, US$40 million for a player that is 29 years old is usually good business in this market.

Now, when Arsene Wenger sold Robin Van Persie to Manchester United a few seasons back, a lot of people including myself were questioning the sale of one of his key players to a direct rival. Yes, he had a multitude of injuries but at that time Sir Alex Ferguson was looking for a lethal striker, and he was the final piece in the jigsaw that won them the last title in SAF final season.

This sale of Matic has me thinking along the same lines, and it looks like he is the kind of player Jose Mourinho needs to play his style of football, basically the final piece in his jigsaw.

Remember, Matic has always been admired by Mourinho and had once been a Chelsea player who had struggled to get a first-team look-in. He was sold to Benfica in 2011 as part of the deal that brought David Luiz to London, and it is a measure of how highly he was rated by Mourinho that when the manager returned for a second spell at Stamford Bridge, one of the first things he did was buy him back. It’s been said that the board went behind Conte’s back in agreeing to the sale of Matic to United. If that is the case, there are going to be bigger problems at Chelsea this season.

Of course, we are only one game into the season but with Matic being named Man of the Match, it does provide context to how he will used by Mourinho. Carrick must be sighing with relief that he doesn’t have to turn up every week.

Chelsea have bought deftly too; Bakayoko for Matic, Morata for Costa, Rudiger for Terry/Zouma and still looking for a left back. Chelsea have spent and spent, deftly replenishing an ageing squad.

The Burnley result was bad, but unfortunately, Cahill’s stupidity plus the injuries to Hazard, Pedro, Moses and Bakayoko had a major part in it. They will have to cover their depth now with Champions League on their plate too.

Time will tell over the course of the season, but I do have that same feeling I had back in 2012, the day Robin Van Persie signed for Manchester United and we all know what happened next. – August 21, 2017.

* Gogulan Dorairajoo is manager of KL Galaxy FC and an all-round football pundit with a passion for the world’s greatest sport. He also happens to be a long suffering fan of Aston Villa FC.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.