Mourinho hits back at Wenger over criticism of Mata sale

Jose Mourinho has hit back at claims from his title rivals that Chelsea's proposed sale of Juan Mata to Manchester United was 'unfair'.

Mata's £37million transfer inched closer on Friday night as United agreed the deal subject to a medical and Chelsea closed in on his replacement Mohamed Salah after agreeing an £11m fee with Basle.

The delay did not stop Mourinho lashing out at Arsene Wenger and Manuel Pellegrini - and said they could have signed Mata for the same price if they wanted him.

'Wenger complaining is normal because he always does,' said Mourinho. 'It's in his nature. If it was Arsenal or City or Liverpool and Juan desired to go, we would do the same.

'A team can only play with 11 players, not 12.

'City, Arsenal and United are full of top players, so if Juan plays for them it means somebody else is not playing. So why not? Wenger is a very intelligent man who always has an opinion and likes to share it. We have to accept the way he is. But when he says this is not fair, I think what is not fair is that his team always has the best day to play. Always, always.'

This was a reference to Arsenal's FA Cup tie against Coventry last night. Chelsea play Stoke on Sunday before a full midweek list of Barclays Premier League fixtures.

'In the Capital One Cup we had to play 24 hours after, they had 72 hours. That's not fair. This week, who plays Friday? Who plays Sunday? It's never fair because they always get to rest.'

Wenger hinted that Chelsea were keen to sell Mata because they have played United twice with Arsenal, City, Liverpool and Everton to play again.

Pellegrini chipped into the verbal skirmish, saying: 'Maybe Arsene Wenger had a correct reason, but my argument is more general. I feel that if a player has made more than five or six appearances for his club, he cannot join another one in the same league at this stage.'

Mourinho shrugged it off, saying: 'If Wenger sells Mesut Ozil to Man United, I will be happy because he's selling a very important player. He should be happy that Chelsea sold a player like Juan Mata.'