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LONDON -- Juan Mata is edging closer to joining Manchester United from Chelsea as the Premier League champions try to strengthen their squad after a lacklustre first half of the season. In a sign that Matas Chelsea departure is nearing, a person familiar with the situation said the midfielder did not train with the first team on Wednesday. United said it is yet to make a formal bid for Mata, but another person with knowledge of the situation said the club is pursuing the Spaniard in the January transfer window. The people spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the transfer is not being discussed publicly. According to Britains Press Association, United has lodged a 40 million-pound ($66-million) bid through a third party. United and its manager, David Moyes, would not take questions on Mata in the post-match news conference after the teams League Cup semifinal defeat to Sunderland later Wednesday. The 25-year-old Mata, Chelseas player of the year for the last two seasons, has fallen out of favour since Jose Mourinho returned as manager in June. He has not played for the team since the Jan. 1 victory against Southampton. Chelsea pulled further away from United in the Premier League title race by beating Moyes side 3-1 on Sunday. While Chelsea is third, just two points from the summit, United is seventh, 14 points behind leader Arsenal. Moyes accepts there is a need to reinforce the squad, with Champions League qualification, by finishing in the top four, far from certain. "I fully understand that supporters are keen to see us freshen up the squad with new faces, but January is a difficult month in which to bring people in," Moyes said in Wednesdays program for the League Cup semifinal against Sunderland. "While we are actively scouting players all the time, a lot of the work we are doing now is preparation for the summer. "If we can do any business now then we will certainly try to do it, but I will not compromise the standards required for a player that can come into this club and help improve it." Selling Mata to United could indicate that Chelsea does not see the 20-time English champions as a major rival this season. United has lost four out of five games at the start of 2014, and was seeking to overturn a 2-1 deficit against Sunderland on Wednesday night to reach the League Cup final. "We all know that our club is undergoing changes at present, but I have a clear path in my mind and I know where we are going," Moyes said in Wednesdays program. Mata would not be eligible to play for United in the Champions League because he has played in the group stage for Chelsea. Custom New Orleans Saints Jerseys . Or take a relaxing vacation somewhere warm. 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Speaking to reporters at a charity event, Johnson said: "I just kind of wonder sometimes: Is this still the place for me?" Johnsons comments came after he was asked why he recently skipped a voluntary minicamp. TORONTO -- Bob Nicholson is looking to a familiar face to restore Canadas world junior hockey supremacy. The president of Hockey Canada announced Wednesday the return of Brent Sutter as the head coach of the Canadian national junior team. The Red Deer Rebels coach, GM and owner will be joined by assistants Benoit Groulx and Ryan McGill at the 2014 world championship in Malmo, Sweden. Canada has dominated the world junior event winning 28 medals overall, including 15 gold. But Canada last won it all in 2009 in Ottawa -- the final of five straight gold medals -- and last year in Russia finished fourth and out of the medals for the first time since 98. "Weve done a lot of work analyzing what the other countries are doing," Nicholson said during a news conference at the MasterCard Centre. "Its a step-by-step process and Brent Sutter is going to come back and coach this junior team and it will be about first day of camp, second day of camp, third day of camp . . . "It wont be about getting to world junior championship, it will be about a process to make sure everyone buys into that. If we do that in the proper way with all the new people there to help that it will put us in a good position." Sutter, 51, from Viking, Alta., has coached Canada in international competition on four previous occasions, most recently at last years world hockey championship. He guided Canada to world junior gold in 2005 and 2006 and said Canadians must understand other world junior countries have improved. "Its not like Canadian hockey has totally dropped off the map," Sutter said. "Canadian hockey is still very elite but its just other countries have closed the gap on us. "Every game you play now is a highly competitive game at this level. Theres no certain thing that you can sit there and say, We have to drastically change this or that. Thats not the case at all. Its how do you get above the line, how do you stay above the line, how do you stay at where you want to get to and get to your ultimate goal and how to you accomplish that?" Sutter also knows what it takes to succeed on the international stage as a player. The former Calgary Flames and New Jersey Devils head coach played for Canada on four occasions, including the 1986 world championship and 1984, 1987 and 1991 Canada Cups. "Its exciting, its a new challenge and one Im looking forward to," Sutter said. "We all know what our ultimate goal is but its a process to be able to get to that point and that process will start in August. "Well get after it then." Canadas national junior team will gather in Brossard, Que., for practices on Aug. 4 and 5, before playing exhibition games in Lake Placid, N.Y., against Finland (Aug. 7), Sweden (Aug. 8) and the U.S. (Aug. 10). The 2014 world junior tournament begins Dec. 26. Groulx is the head coach and general manager of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey Leagues Gatineau Olympiques and McGill is the head coach of the Western Hockey Leagues Kootenay Ice. Also on Wednesday, Dale Hunter was named head coach of Canadas national summer under-18 squad. Thee 52-year-old from Petrolia, Ont.dddddddddddd, will be joined by assistants Dominique Ducharme and D.J. Smith at the 2013 Memorial of Ivan Hlinka tournament in Breclav, Czech Republic and Piestany, Slovakia. Hunter is the head coach, owner and president of the Ontario Hockey Leagues London Knights. Ducharme is head coach of the QMJHLs Halifax Mooseheads and Smith is head coach of the OHLs Oshawa Generals. The U18 team will gather in Toronto for a selection camp late next month before travelling to Europe for the Aug. 5-10 tournament. Canada has won the annual summer event five straight years and 15 of the last 17 years. "You see how much work goes into winning and thats why Canada wins," said Hunter, who also coached the NHLs Washington Capitals before returning to London. "If it was easy, it wouldnt be as much fun. "In the playoffs you have seven games. You might lose the first two and you can redeem yourself. In a tournament like this youve got to be ready right off the hop and have them firing on all cylinders." Hockey Canada also announced several changes to its Program of Excellence. A new management group will oversee hockey operations for the program. Group members include Blainville-Boisbriand Armada GM Joel Bouchard, Phoenix Coyotes goaltender coach Sean Burke, Kelowna Rockets GM Bruce Hamilton and London Knights GM Mark Hunter. The group will work directly with Brad Pascall and Scott Salmond to oversee operations of the under-17, under-18 and under-20 programs. Pascall is Hockey Canadas vice-president of hockey operations and national teams while Salmond is the senior director of hockey operations and national teams. In addition, Ryan Jankowski has replaced Kevin Prendergast as the head scout of the mens Program of Excellence. Jankowski, 38, has spent the last three seasons as an amateur scout with the Montreal Canadiens after working five seasons as the assistant GM with the New York Islanders. The Calgary native previously worked for Hockey Canada from 1996 to 2003 in a variety of roles. He will be responsible for all player evaluation and recruitment for Canadas national junior team and national mens U18 team development and selection camps, as well as evaluations with the U17 program. The Program of Excellence policy committee remains in place to oversee direction of the program. The committee includes Nicholson, chief operating officer Scott Smith, OHL commissioner and CHL president David Branch, QMJHL commissioner Gilles Courteau, WHL commissioner Ron Robison and Hockey Canada officers Joe Drago and Michael Brindamour. "We reached out to our best resources and thats people," Nicholson said. "I guess the buzzword today is retooling and were really doing that. "With the management group we have a component there where we have general managers from the CHL now involved and having Sean Burke, a player who had worn the (Canadian) jersey so many times and knows the international game, its really a group that can work with Ryan to make sure we get the right players and build the right atmosphere as we go forward." 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