Hands up, who saw that coming then? Juan Mata making the jump from Stamford Bridge to Old Trafford is one of the most surprising transfer stories of recent years, and there we all were predicting a quiet January transfer window.
It is a deal which has divided Chelsea fans; some believe it to be madness to offload such a prodigious talent, and to a direct rival in United but others believe this was the right time with the evidence suggesting that Chelsea are just fine without him.
Regardless of all that, though, Juan Mata is a very special talent and it is certainly a case of a Chelsea loss whilst Manchester United gain which is not ideal if you’re a Chelsea fan, no matter what you think of the current state of the team. Mata is only second to David Silva when it comes down to who has created the most chances in the Premier League over the past two years.
Jose Mourinho can talk all he likes of how Willian tracks back and does the dirty work but the creativity and imagination that Mata brings to a team is surely to great to let go? What he lacks in defensive work he more than makes up with in attacking nous. Mata’s isolation has been a rather poor showing from Mourinho, too, as the Spaniard has barely featured for the club after being the first name on the team sheet for two seasons.
It will be interesting to see where David Moyes deploys Mata in order to fully utilise his skills. With the ship rocking at United, the acquisition of Mata has steadied it somewhat and he will be key for United’s top four push.
Feel sorry for Mata, hes going to end up as flop of the season over there. Moyes cant even use Kagawa properly how will he use Mata. Kagawa was amazing at Dortmund and look at him now. Hope Mata comes back someday or atleast go to Real or Barca
Feels hard because of his talent, bur it was harder still to suffer him on the bench.
In the end a bit scary to see him off to United, but respectful of the player – and also a bold show of belief in the way forward from Jose
I hurt me a lot to see mata leave
It will hurt me more to see him coming back to hurt chelsea. He's an exceptional player that is so precious to let go just like that.
To me its obvious that mouriho that like him.
MATA I wish you all the best of luck