Juan Mata Takes A Swipe At Jose Mourinho

Former Chelsea attacker Juan Mata, now of Manchester United has hit back at Jose Mourinho over the Blues manager’s derisive ‘luxury player’ accusations.

Mourinho managed Mata – who was Chelsea’s back-to-back Player of the Year in two seasons but later sold the diminutive Spaniard to Manchester United in 2014, after issuing a veiled criticism of the player saying he preferred Oscar as his number 10.

Since moving to Old Trafford, Mata has grown from strength to strength under the tutelage of Louis van Gaal. In an interview with The Times, the attacker has now addressed accusations that he is a ‘luxury player’.

“If a luxury player is a player who scores and assists and has good stats, then I’m happy to be a luxury player,” Mata said.

“I want luxury players in my team. I like creative players and players who do different things. It’s easy to say certain players are luxuries, especially when you’ve lost a game. When you lose a certain kind of player – the creative players – always get the blame.

“I’ve scored as many goals for Manchester United in the Premier League as for Chelsea, but in something like 30 games less.

“In terms of scoring and assisting and I’m quite happy with the stats, and stats don’t lie. They are facts.”

Even though Mata was substituted at half-time in United’s 3-0 win over Everton on Saturday, the silky Spaniard has arguably been the Red Devils’ best performer this term.