Does the arrival of Juan Mata at Manchester United signal the end of the club's relationship with Wayne Rooney?

The addition of Mata makes sense for a number of reasons except the most practical. The team needed a big move to hush critics. It needed a blockbuster player to give manager David Moyes credibility. It needed a spark to get this team back on track.

But Manchester United also needs to win games. And Mata's addition does not immediately fill this need.

Mata plays in the middle behind the top striker. That is the position he has excelled at with Chelsea. His top-end passing and vision enable him not only to create goals but to finish them.

The problem is that Wayne Rooney is currently playing behind striker Robin van Persie and having tremendous success doing so. He has scored nine goals and nine assists in 2013-14 thus far. Rooney has arguably been United's top player this year and it is unlikely that Mata ousts him from his current position, unless Rooney is on the way out.

Mata would then likely have to play out on the wing, where he played at times for Chelsea this year and was not as effective; he only had two assists in 13 games.

Mata does not seem to mind where he plays, however.

"My best position, first of all playing! Playing, because it's what I love, to play, and to smell the turf," said Mata, according to ESPN. "But after I think I can play in the three positions behind the striker, I've managed to play on the left when I arrived at Chelsea, this season I play on the right, last season which probably the best season of my career I played behind the striker but it doesn't matter as long as I play and the manager wants me to play."

Is Rooney on his way out of Manchester United?