The rate at which the Manchester United midfielder’s stock has taken a dive over the past 18 months or so, I suspect he has regular nose bleed. From a fan favourite at the Bridge, to a bit part player at Manchester United, it’s all unravelling really quick for the sleek Spanish maestro.
Most people like to speculate that Juan Mata’s falling out with Mourinho happened for anything but football reasons. I beg to disagree. The two qualities Mourinho seems to rate above any other are doggedness and insane work ethic. Mourinho isn’t one of those managers who make footballing decisions based on sentiments. A sentimental coach might have kept Lampard and Ashley Cole; a sentimental coach might have stuck with Petr Cech as first choice. Jose is a winner, and winners don’t think with their hearts.
Mourinho opined that he wants a hard working midfield, a midfield that could press, hassle and harass the opposition. Juan Mata has a lot of positive qualities, but defensive discipline isn’t one of them. At least, he is nowhere near the level Oscar is. Spain has given us a deluge of central attacking midfielders in the past decade, all deadly with the ball at their feet; almost all are passengers without it. Iniesta, Silva, Cazorla, Cesc et al. If Mourinho says he wants a number 10 who will put in a defensive shift, then it points to reason that the number 10 won’t be Mata, or anyone in the Mata mould. It’s not sentiment; it is how he wants to win.
When Manchester United signed Mata for a record fee in January, I postulated that Chelsea had gotten the longer end of the stick. They had sold a player they did not want for a flood bath of money. The Mata to United move was a deal reeking of desperation. Under fire, David Moyes felt he needed to sign a high profile name after the failure of the previous window, Mata felt he had to move to guarantee himself a place in Spain’s world cup team. It felt okay for six months. Now United is stuck with a quality player on big wages who doesn’t really fit anywhere in their team.
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I have long concluded that football players are susceptible to the Alexandre Song syndrome. Very few players will turn down a move to a bigger club for the logical reason that the player who occupies that position is a better player than you are. What in the world would warrant Juan Mata to believe that he could wrestle away the shirt of United’s poster boy for a decade, current club and country captain and highest paid player?
He won’t cut it on the wings, he isn’t an accomplished dribbler neither is he quick in any true sense of the word, he cannot play in a two man midfield because his defensive qualities are almost nonexistent, he can’t bench Wayne Rooney, he isn’t content on the bench, very few clubs can match his wages, so moving isn’t really an option, but ultimately he has too much quality to be merely a squad option. So what exactly is Mr Juan Mata to do?
Liverpool is sorely in need of a player to unlock defences in tight spaces. They can pay Mata’s wages, and he’ll probably be an automatic solution for them. Could the solution be that easy?
Obisesan Adedamola
