Chelsea Transfer News: Latest on Hunt for Striker, Juan Mata's Future and More

Jose Mourinho’s focus has been drifting increasingly towards transfers than preparing his side in Asia for the new Premier League season.

Chelsea have been forced to refute claims of key players leaving the club in the last few days, admit a bid for Wayne Rooney and deal with visa issues for one of their summer additions from Brazil.

Rooney’s future has grabbed the attention of English fans, with Manchester United boss David Moyes’ comments leaving the striker "angry and confused."

As confirmed by the Independent’s Sam Wallace and Ian Herbert, Chelsea had submitted a bid for the English striker believed to be in the region of £20m.

Surprisingly, for most, Juan Manuel Mata’s future at Stamford Bridge came into the spotlight with talk of the Spanish playmaker being used as a makeweight for the Rooney deal.

As the Mirror's John Cross tweets, the idea of Mourinho swapping Mata for Rooney was bizarre.

That was robustly denied by Mourinho in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur, as via The Guardian’s Dominic Fifeld. When asked about the possibility of Mata or even David Luiz being sold in the transfer window, the Portuguese coach replied: "No chance, no chance."

Chelsea look to be in the market for a central striker after losing out on Radamel Falcao to AS Monaco, and Mourinho could be set to return to his former club to find the answer.

Real Madrid’s Gonzalo Higuain, who played under Mourinho at the Bernabeu, has put Chelsea into the mix for his signature, claiming interest from the English club to Spanish newspaper AS (via MailOnline) "Mourinho wants me there."

The French-born Argentinian international hit man scored 122 goals in 262 games for Los Blancos with 58 coming under Mourinho’s reign.

But a lack of appearances in the first team last season prompted the former River Plate striker to have his future at the club thrown into doubt. Real Madrid are unlikely to budge below €40 million, Marca report, as the player is still contracted for a further three seasons to the Spanish club.

With Arsenal also interested in the striker, the ability to meet the valuation of Real’s president Florentino Perez could be the crucial factor in where Higuain’s future lies next season.

Meanwhile, Mourinho has said Brazilian full-back Wallace will need to be sent out on loan because of problems with a European visa, as reported by Matt Barlow at MailOnline.

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He is a good player but he won't be staying with us because we have [Branislav] Ivanovic and [Cesar] Azpilicueta for the same position and he's also non-EC so we'll not get the visa. It will be too early, so he'll go on loan for a season.

We’ll find the best option for him, in Europe. We want him to adapt. We’ll see the best of him. He has talent and is one more investment for this club, a good investment, because the kid is a very good player.

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The teenager was excellent in their 1-0 win over Singha All-Stars in Bangkok and looked to show enough quality to impress Mourinho.

“He is a very good player,” he added.