Abhranil Roy
Twitter is abuzz with rumours of Juan Mata leaving Manchester United for Everton, and although a lot of photoshopped pictures have been doing the rounds, yet there does seem to be some sort of base behind them.
The Spaniard was sold by Chelsea during Jose Mourinho’s time at Stamford Bridge, and it’s expected that he will now look to move him out of Old Trafford. Everton boss Ronald Koeman is believed to be keen to sign him and Mata’s future remains unclear at best.
While the news has been met with disappointment by many sections of United fans, most will accept Mourinho’s wishes and will bid him a fond farewell.
But here’s why Mourinho should sell the 28-year-old this summer:
1. He doesn’t fit in the system-
With Mkhitaryan coming and Jose himself indicating that he would utilise Wayne Rooney in an attacking midfield role, it’s hard to see where Mata would fit in. He is limited at best in a wide role, and even there he would face stiff challenges from the likes of Ashley Young, Adnan Januzaj and Memphis Depay, all natural wingers.
2. We have already bought a serious upgrade-
Mata, who is a year older than the Armenian, enjoyed a decent return of 10 goals and eight assists in 54 appearances in all competitions last season. Mkhitaryan, meanwhile, played four fewer matches but totalled 21 goals and 10 assists – a significantly stronger set of stats.
Mata’s goals also came against relatively weak teams, with strikes against Southampton and Wolfsburg the pick of the bunch.Goals against Shrewsbury, Derby, Norwich, Sunderland and West Brom will hardly set the world alight.
3. Jose is not a fan and it would be great if we could recoup his value-
Mourinho had previously stated exactly how he viewed Mata — a technically brilliant player whose overall contribution to the team isn’t really that good. Having favoured the likes of Oscar and Ramires over him and having seen not much changing in his style of play, it’s really hard to understand why the Portuguese would keep him at all.
The former Valencia man was bought for 37.1 million pounds, and apparently Everton are bidding 20 million pounds for him, which under current circumstances, seems a great offer.
