He is coined Spiderman and Manchester United hope Nemanja Matic is attracted to the web Jose Mourinho is weaving this summer.
Matic is one player Mourinho would like at Old Trafford, the esteem with which the new manager holds him in no secret.
The admiration was there well before the Portuguese made sure Chelsea would re-sign the central midfielder months after he returned to Stamford Bridge for a second spell in 2013.
Mourinho was aghast they ever allowed him to leave in the first place, forcing through a £21million move from Benfica in the January of that season. Just three years previous Matic had been used as a make-weight to the transfer of David Luiz under Carlo Ancelotti.
New Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho is a big fan of Nemanja Matic from their time at Chelsea
Matic's powerful game, combined with his deftness of touch, has made him a favourite of Mourinho
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The reasons for such affection are obvious. He is the very embodiment of his former boss, who said it best himself after that deal was done.
‘If I had been here - left-footed player, 1.95m tall - a midfield player like that would never, never leave.’ Matic is no bruiser but his physical stature, matched with a deftness of touch in tight areas, makes him an indispensable asset in the modern game.
It is why Chelsea will fight tooth and nail to keep him in London, why United want him to spring up north sooner rather than later.
At his best, Matic sees it all. Eyes in the back of his head, razor-sharp reactions, with an engine to boot. ‘He is a giant, not for his size but for the way he plays,’ Mourinho said last year.
It is what fallen United need right now - Mourinho knows that having spent time observing Louis van Gaal’s side - the pitfalls of varying systems, the one-paced struggle.
What soon became apparent to anybody who watched the last year of the Dutchman’s reign is that the midfield needed a tweak. It was too slow, too predictable.
A by-product of the manager, certainly, but they still require a surge, a boost. Too many times over the course of 2015-16 United did not posses a man to drive them on, quicken a game in an instant.
The sort of individual who can manoeuvre his way through crowded areas quickly, move forward with the ball and pass others as he goes.
They need the Matic of Chelsea’s title-winning campaign and it is evident Mourinho believes he can harness that once more.
After all, it is not all that long ago.
Mourinho has already began his Old Trafford revolution and sees Matic as an ideal summer signing
Matic suffered a dip in form last season but remains a man Mourinho would like to bring to Old Trafford
Matic suffered an alarming slump in the first few months of their defence - he was not alone by any stretch - but showed signs under Guus Hiddink that he is beginning to come out the other side.
The definitive reasons for Chelsea’s decline will - in all likelihood - never truly come to light, Matic forced to deny a rift between the former boss and his players.
He said the pair privately laughed at suggestions the Serbian was one who did not see eye-to-eye with Mourinho.
Mourinho values being among his own, too - validated by the comprising of his backroom staff, to include No 2 Rui Faria - and will be all too aware of the importance of having an ally bang in the centre of the park.
From there, Matic’s legs can do the talking of his boss. ‘Nemanja’s a spider, stealing balls and the way he runs and moves,’ Mourinho said when Chelsea re-signed him in 2014.
‘There is the simple decision, the simple pass — very good. With Matic we have in this moment more solutions for our midfield.’
Days later, his fourth game back at Chelsea, he ran the Etihad Stadium, a stellar performance in a 1-0 win in which Yaya Toure, then in his own pomp, was not afforded a sniff.
Matic was everywhere that night.
Twelve months later and he was being heralded as equally, if not more, important in the title canter than Cesc Fabregas and Diego Costa, despite their combined goals and assists.
Chelsea fans would be loathed to see him leave, particularly given his age, 27, lends itself to any potential new club benefiting from his prime.
And what does his employer get? Former Portugal midfielder and Benfica’s sporting director Rui Costa tells it best.
‘Matic is a player who gives balance to a team,’ he told Sportsmail in 2014. ‘He is someone with great positioning and he is intelligent in the way he moves and passes the ball.
‘He is an outstanding player.’
Matic joined Chelsea initially after starring for Portuguese side Benfica as a mobile, combative midfielder
