Will we encounter the Special One vs Special Juan Part II or will they forget about their bad blood and move on? That will be the biggest question in everyone’s mind especially the anxious Manchester United fans.
Poor Juan Mata. Left out of the Spanish squad for Euro 2016 by Vicente Del Bosque after an average season with Manchester United, his future at the club is now in danger. As if it is like a nightmare come true, Jose Mourinho, his former manager at Chelsea is now in charge of Manchester United.
Back then, the 28-year-old was a fan favourite at Chelsea making 86 league appearances and scoring 18 goals in the process. He became Chelsea’s Premier League Player of the Year for 2011/12 and 2012/13,
But it all changed when Jose Mourinho returned to Stamford Bridge in 2013, and felt that Mata was too slow and did not contribute much defensively. Mourinho’s preference of pacy, attack minded midfielders like Willian and Eden Hazard was no secret to Mata. Even Oscar was preferred due to his effectiveness defensively while remaining as an attacking threat.
However, according to the Telegraph, since Mata moved to Chelsea in the summer of 2011, only David Silva has racked up more assists or created more chances in the Premier League. Furthermore, it can also be argued that Mata showed his eagerness to impress his manager with his tackles per game doubled in the time after Mourinho arrived back at Stamford Bridge.
Six months later, he moved to Manchester United, where he also became a fan favourite. He made a total of 86 league appearance scoring 21 goals including the equalising goal in the FA Cup final against Crystal Palace, helping United to the trophy for a record 12th time.
But, even if they have chosen to forget about the past, the question is does Mata still holds a place in Jose’s starting XI?
Jose Mourinho prefers to play 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 system. With the arrival of new signing Henrikh Mkhitaryan and abundance of talents in the midfield department with Memphis Depay, Adnan Januzaj and Jesse Lingard all waiting, Mata should know that it will not be an easy ride.
With the long season ahead plus the cup competitions coming along, I feel that Mata deserves a second chance and my solution would be rotating him and Rooney to play just behind Zlatan Ibrahimovic or Marcus Rashford. He was never effective as a right winger but on his best day, Mata can give Mourinho a different option and dimension to the game with his creativity and brilliant ideas to split the oppositions’ defences.
However, if he decides to leave, he has no short of options. It is reported that Premier League club, Everton are interested in signing the player. There are also talks about him moving to Juventus with Paul Pogba coming the other way.
Would an exit from Old Trafford be a good move for his career? Only time will tell.
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