Bye bye, Jose!

Manchester United have agreed a club record £37million fee for Chelsea's Juan Mata to ease the pain of their Capital One Cup KO. 

Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho signed off on the deal following talks with club executives and Mata is expected for a medical in Manchester on Thursday. 

United chief executive Ed Woodward agreed to break the club's transfer record for Mata as they attempt to salvage their season. 

Wave goodbye: Juan Mata is set to join Manchester United after a £37m fee was agreed with Chelsea

Dejected: Moyes will be hoping the capture of Mata will arrest his new side's slide into mediocrity

Bitter pill to swallow: Moyes had to watch as Sunderland beat his United team on penalties in the Capital One Cup semi-final at Old Trafford

Glum faces: Manchester United players look on during the unsuccessful penalty shootout against Sunderland

Seven defeats in the Barclays Premier League have left United six points off the pace in the race for fourth place - and Champions League football next season - but Mata's addition will cause a huge stir. 

The Spanish playmaker, 25, trained alone in the fitness centre at Cobham on Wednesday as his team-mates prepared for Sunday’s FA Cup tie at Stamford Bridge against Stoke City.

After the Sunderland defeat at Old Trafford, Moyes refused to talk about the Mata deal. 

Mourinho had given his players two days off following their 3-1 victory over United in the Barclays Premier League on Sunday.

No Spanish inquisition: The Chelsea squad trained at Cobham and Mata was not present for the session

They returned to training on Wednesday to discover that Mata was ‘90 per cent sure’ that he would be leaving Chelsea, three years after he arrived in a £23.5m deal from Valencia.

He has not played for the club since he was substituted in the 53rd minute of their 3-0 victory at Southampton on New Year’s Day.

Mata was replaced by Oscar when the score was still 0-0 and he ignored Mourinho as he walked off the field at St Mary’s. Mata then kicked a plastic chair in the technical area in frustration and team-mates had to calm him down.

Crucial moment: Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho substituted Mata in the match against Southampton on January 1 and the Spaniard has not played for the club since

After the game Mourinho claimed the door was open for any player who wanted to leave and Mata was one of them. 

He believes he will be given a fresh start at United and it’s a huge statement of intent by the champions after an indifferent first season under new manager David Moyes.

Mata, who was Chelsea’s player of the year for the past two seasons, will sign a lengthy contract at United when he has completed his medical.

United believe they have signed a world class player and he is expected to make his debut for the club against Cardiff on Tuesday. 

Providing Mata passes his medical, he will be free to play his first game in front of 76,000 supporters at Old Trafford.

London calling? Basle forward Mohamed Salah is a target for Chelsea

Striking option: Chelsea are believed to be interested in Atletico Madrid's Brazilian forward Diego Costa

Chelsea may decide to spend the Mata money quickly, and were vying with Liverpool to sign Basle’s Egyptian forward Mohamed Salah on Wednesday night. Chelsea are also keen on Atletico Madrid’s Diego Costa. 

While Radamel Falcao at Monaco is still on the Stamford Bridge club’s list, he has suffered a serious knee injury that could rule him out for six months.

Mata is determined to push through the move and Mourinho is understood to have accepted that he wants to leave in search of first-team football.

The midfielder has concerns about his inclusion in Spain’s World Cup squad this summer if he is not playing regularly for his club side and Moyes will give him that opportunity as he starts building a team for the future.

This mother had to trek for nine days in -35C just to get to hospital

The birth of a child is one of the most significant moments in a family's life. 

Many are fortunate enough to experience this in the comfort of a hospital, before driving home with nothing but a table-load of presents and sleepless nights to worry about.

For this family from Ladakh, Northern India, the situation was quite different, as they were forced to travel on foot for 45 miles to get to the nearest hospital.

A different world: As there is no doctor or hospital facility in the village where the family live, they were forced to travel on foot down river Chadar, at an altitude of 11,123ft, for nine days - and then make the same journey back when the baby was born

Latest addition: The newborn baby is wrapped up warm for the nine-day journey back to their home town in Ladakh, Northern India

Long journey: Another member of the family carries the newborn's older sibling as they make their way up the frozen river, walking for eight hours a day

It took them nine days to get to their destination, Lingshed, the nearest town with a hospital, after which they had to return the same way they came - up a frozen mountain river in temperatures of -35C.

A photographer encountered the family during their nine-day journey home with their newborn baby in a basket, carrying a young child.

 

The frozen river Chadar is at an altitude of 11,123 ft,and the family walked for eight hours-a-day over the frozen river often up to their knees in bitingly cold water.

The family were forced to carry both provisions and children, and camped in mountain caves at night as they trekked back to their home town.

The photos were captured by photographer Tim Vollmer from Iceland who was trekking up the Chadar with his friends when he spotted the weather-beaten family.

No other option: The family had to bring food, blankets and other provisions on their backs or on sleds and camped out in caves at night before continuing their gruelling walk in the morning

Tough trek: The family were sometimes forced to wade through icy water and snow after the cold weather blocked the roads from Ladakh to the hospital in Lingshed

Keeping warm: A cave in the mountainside serves as shelter for the night as the family gathers around a fire in the freezing cold night

Tim said: ‘One day we met then this family with the little son and newborn, I was amazed what it is normal for someone to go through to get a child!

‘For me its just incredible, how easy and how much help we get in the western world to give birth in comparison - when you saw this little child and baby, how cold they have been, what they have to do.’

‘The Zanskar River is big and fast flowing. For most if its length between Chillimg and the Zanskar Valley the River is confined within a steep canyon.

‘Walking over the frozen river and very cold rushing water just a few inches below your feet is terrifying.

‘Travelling from Leh, the capital of Ladakh to Lingshed takes four to five days under the best conditions and the long winter snow closes the roads and passes entirely for six months annually.

‘The local people use the river to carry goods for their livelihood and sometimes people die during the dangerous trip.’

As one: Family members brought larger sleds to be able to provide some relief for the mother as she recovers from giving birth

Travelling from Leh, the capital of Ladakh to Lingshed, where the hospital is takes around five days in the summer, but during the winder, snow closes the roads and mountain passes and the frozen river is the only way out