Manchester United Put Juan Mata On Transfer List

According to reports from the Express, Manchester United has resolved to cut their losses on one of their midfielders, Juan Mata. It was erstwhile manager, David Moyes who sanctioned the deal to bring him over to Old Trafford from Chelsea, but it appears that the new man in charge is not really sure of what the future holds for the Spaniard and may open the doors for him as soon as January. In an attempt to describe Louis van Gaal’s desperation to offload the midfielder who has been relegated to few cameo appearances at the club this term, the same source further reveals that, the Dutchman will welcome bids around the £20m mark (a whooping £17.1m loss).

Despite coming on as a second-half substitute and getting the winning goal against Crystal Palace last weekend, Mata is still unable to convince his boss that he has a role to play in the current scheme of things. Unlike Kagawa who didn’t get enough time to show the manager what he was capable of, Mata had completed three 90-minute matches for the Red Devils this season alone but the former Chelsea man is currently facing similar issues that he faced under Jose Mourinho only 10-months back.

Mata’s lack of physical presence and defensive abilities dropped him of the list of the Chelsea manager’s favourite players despite the fact that he won the Chelsea player of the year award for 2 consecutive sea sons. After several talks with between Mourinho and Mata about his style of play, the manager bared his frustration by omitting his name of the squad list in the first half of several of the matches during the 2013/14 campaign and eventually sold him off to Manchester United.

At the time when he arrived at Old Trafford, David Moyes was under serious pressure for his presumed lack of activity in that year’s summer. The Scot had only signed Marouane Fellaini from his former club and many fans believed that he lacked the pedigree to lure class-acts players over to the club. To right this wrong, Moyes jumped at the opportunity to sign Mata and in fairness to the Spaniard, he actually hit the ground running and even now that he is not getting adequate game time, Juan Mata has still managed 9 goals from 24 appearances. Another awesome thing about him is that his goals come exactly at the point when it matters most for the Red Devils, for instance, the recent one against Crystal Palace.

If Louis van Gaal actually shows Mata the door by January, he will still attract a couple of big-wigs amongst which is one of his former employers, Valencia, and the current Li Liga champions, Atletico Madrid. But even with the confidence that he will get equally good employers out there, the midfielder is determined to fight for his place. However, there is only little to what he can do especially as the manager has stated explicitly that team captain, Wayne Rooney is his first choice attacking midfielder. Unfortunately, Juan Mata is not dynamic enough to fit in elsewhere and if he will remain at the club, then he really needs to step it up.