Former Manchester United attacker Juan Mata has reflected on the moment he was warned his career at the club would be abruptly cut short.
Juan Mata was one of the most popular Manchester United players during his career at the club, even though it felt like he never hit the heights he might have been capable of.
In truth, Mata was a victim and a symptom of Manchester United’s peculiar transfer policy under Ed Woodward.
He signed for a then club record £37.1 million from Chelsea, without an obvious fit.
Mata’s best position was in a central attacking role behind a forward, but in the system United were playing, this was occupied by Wayne Rooney.
This prompted Mata to spend most of his peak years at United shunted out to play as a winger, and while he made the best of it, his spectacular moments were fleeting rather than regular.
Mata stayed at United until 2022 when his contract expired, with Bruno Fernandes taking his number eight shirt, having already displaced him in the team.
Juan Mata in Manchester United training top
Photo by Joe Prior/Visionhaus via Getty Images
Juan Mata was warned over Jose Mourinho return
The Spaniard played under a succession of managers at United, with the one who signed him, David Moyes, fired after just four months.
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After Louis van Gaal was sacked in 2016, the Red Devils turned to Jose Mourinho to try and solve the club’s post-Sir Alex Ferguson crisis.
A red flag immediately emerged for Juan Mata. Jose Mourinho was the manager who sold him to Manchester United from Chelsea, after failing to take to him.
Mata says he was immediately warned by his family members that he needed to prepare to leave Manchester United, because Mourinho would not want him.
Speaking to the Fozcast, Mata said: “First call that I received. It was from my family, from my granddad, ‘you have to leave, you have to leave again’.”
Mata glad he stayed at United
Mata explained that he refused to give up so easily, and he was glad he decided to trust his own instincts.
“I said, ‘no, I’m gonna see how it goes. I’m gonna I don’t have any problem with with him, and he doesn’t have any problems with me’.
“We have a good relationship, I played games, we won things together, I played in all the finals, so I felt an important player in his squad, and my family said. ‘you were right’.”
Mata won the FA Cup Final in 2016 under Louis van Gaal, before winning the League Cup and Europa League under Mourinho in 2017.
Mourinho was fired in 2018, with Mata outlasting him, playing under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and also Ralf Rangnick, before his exit.
Mata has enjoyed a varied career since his Manchester United exit, playing in Turkey, Japan, and most recently Australia. Just this past month he was honoured with an MBE for his services to sport.