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Fabrizio Romano: Manchester United confirm Juan Mata exit
According to the transfer journalist, Fabrizio Romano on Twitter, Manchester United have confirmed that Juan Mata will leave Old Trafford in the upcoming summer transfer window. He will be departing the English club after spending eight long years with them on a bittersweet note.
Mata came with high expectations after leaving Chelsea to join Man United back in 2014. While he has won four trophies since moving to Manchester, many supporters would feel that the club failed to get the best out of the technician that they had in their ranks.
Now, the Spaniard will leave the Red Devils on a free transfer when his contract expires at the end of this month. Romano also stated that Mata has plans to continue playing elsewhere and would try to look for potential options this summer. There were talks about him taking a coaching job, but that has been shut down by the ever-reliable specialist.
Man Utd failed Mata
Earlier, there were some suggestions that the 34-year-old could remain at Carrington past this summer. That came to light after Mata expressed in an interview with The Athletic last month that he could decide to stay with the club if Erik ten Hag has plans for him moving forward.
But that seems not to be the case, which could suggest that ten Hag is fine with the Red Devils veteran leaving this summer. Looking back at Mata’s time at the club, it is unfortunate how the attacking midfielder was utilised, as most fans share an opinion that they failed to get the best out of him.
Mata has 51 goals and 47 assists to his name throughout his spell with us from 285 matches across all competitions. Unfortunately, he was only able to win four titles – Europa League, League Cup, FA Cup and English Super Cup- in his tenure, which is disappointing for someone of his quality.
The former Blues man cannot be blamed for any of it as the Manchester club have been poorly mismanaged over the years, which prevented us from playing to our best. Mata, meanwhile, was largely played out of position and was restricted from being used in his natural number ten role, where he excelled at Stamford Bridge.
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In fact, one could say that our best performance of the previous campaign came against Brentford as we beat them 3-0 last month. Mata was arguably the best player on the day as he was played in his natural position with Bruno Fernandes being shifted to the left-hand side of the attack.
As such, Mata’s departure has left the fans with a bittersweet taste as the club failed to provide him with the means to fully express himself. However, the supporters would still hope that he can enjoy a great end to his playing career by finding a club that suits his needs. Let’s hope that Man United would learn from the mistakes they made in the past and use this experience to prevent them from happening in the future.
