Bharath Rammr
Juan Mata was expected to be one of the first casualties at Manchester United when Jose Mourinho was appointed as the manager. The Spaniard was one of the best players at Chelsea before Mourinho’s arrival in 2013 and the Portuguese tactician quickly deemed Mata as surplus to requirements and claimed that he did not fit into his tactics. A £37.1 million move to Manchester United in 2014 soon followed and Mata seemed to have finally found a permanent home.
Reunited with Mourinho once again in the summer, it has not been surprising to see transfer rumours crop up in large numbers. Even though he has been getting some first-team football of late, Mata continues to be linked with other clubs. Fenerbahce have been spoken of as a potential destination in recent weeks and Mata’s father – Mata Sr. – has done little to quell the speculation as he claimed that the midfielder will review his Manchester United future at the end of the season. He also went on to claim that Mata would consider a move to Fenerbahce. According to the Sun, he said:
“This season we have entered a new path with Mourinho. However, at the end of the season we will sit down and evaluate our future more seriously.
“Fenerbahce one of the options? Why not?”
There is every possibility that a move may come around in the summer. Even though the club have been going through a very poor run of form, Jose Mourinho has not been very keen on handing Mata a major role in the team. He last completed 90 minutes of football back in the middle of October against Fenerbahce. Mata is often the first man to be substituted whenever something is not going right for Manchester United, while he has been named on the bench quite often as well.
Mourinho still does not seem to believe in Mata, and the situation is made more complicated by the fact that the 28-year-old only has two years left on his contract. Of course, United do have the option of extending the deal by another year, but it leaves the player in a difficult situation. At 28 years of age, he may see his next contract as the last big payday and he would want to be in the best possible shape to demand such a contract – whether it is with United or another club.
It is highly unlikely that Mourinho will be distracted by the comments from Mata Sr, as he is more likely to be focused on combating the huge injury list ahead of the home game with Arsenal on Saturday. Manchester United are likely to be without as much as six first-team regulars for the game against the gunners. Building on the 3-1 win against Swansea before the international break will be one of the key tasks for Mourinho, who will be back in the dugout after serving a touchline ban.
