Has Juan Mata been a flop?

He’s been a poor signing, has never played as well as he did at Chelsea which is what we bought him to do. So many of our signings have been bad and he’s probably avoided a lot of criticism because there have always been others who are worse than him rather than because he has done well.

He’s lives off a handful of good games and people thinking he’s better than he actually is, definitely hasn’t been a success but in comparison to some of other signings we made flop is possibly too harsh.
 
He didn't reach the heights we were hoping he would but I certainly wouldn't consider him a flop. He signed at the worst time possible at the beginning of our downfall, with all the managerial changes and disruption it's little wonder he hasn't shown us his Chelsea form. But he has been very useful at times. I feel like if Fergie signed him and had him for a number of years we would have seen the best of Mata.
 
Look, when we bought him from Chelsea, he was one of the best in the league, and has been far from a flop at UTD, he's in the twilight of his career , he's been no problem to the club top pro, and has put in very very good performances for the club, a flop was D Maria, shit house player, bad buy, bad attitude! Mata has been at the club in a turbulent time, had he been here when SAF was we would be saying is he a legend.
 
Hughie77 said:
Look, when we bought him from Chelsea, he was one of the best in the league, and has been far from a flop at UTD, he's in the twilight of his career , he's been no problem to the club top pro, and has put in very very good performances for the club, a flop was D Maria, shit house player, bad buy, bad attitude! Mata has been at the club in a turbulent time, had he been here when SAF was we would be saying is he a legend.
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Like Jonesy, Smalling and Youngy.
 
He has been very poorly utilised by a succession of managers who have used systems which don’t suit him. As a result of this he has not been good for the club. Given how poor results have been I’d be tempted to say he was the right signing and the managers were wrong, but in terms of the pressing game which has taken over his style has really been phased out.
 
jem said:
But you could pretty much copy and paste that for every high-profile transfer post-Fergie: Mata; Di Maria; Falcao (not a transfer but still); Depay; Mhkitaryen; Pogba (to a certain extent); Sanchez; Fred (although recent signs are encouraging.) When that consistently happens, just maybe the fault does not lie solely with the player.
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All true. Frustration has been not moving him on.
 
He's not been a flop at all.

We signed him for Moyes when Moyes didn't even know how to use him or what position to play him in. Then two years later we hire the manager who was literally the same person who sold him to us due to seeing him as a misfit.

For someone who was signed under such stupid circumstances and who's been given a pretty shitty hand while here, he's done pretty well. He's played important parts in winning us trophies. Memorable moments like the goal against Juve, goals at Anfield. Generally made himself an important player under both LVG and Mourinho.

I do think he's been off the ball for a long while now but if I was asked if I was glad we signed him it'd be a fairly easy yes. I mean for all the terrible signings we've made surely not many people go around thinking "if only we'd not signed Mata"
 
Not a flop, but neither what he should have been for United. I understand why Ole chose to keep through the rebuild, though. Seems like a top bloke and, like the much maligned Ashley Young, a top professional. I really, really liked how he treated Pereria after the 1-0 against Alkmaar. That kind of acknowledgement from a senior does wonders for the confidence of younger players.

 
A flop would be more like Sanchez, who was near dreadful everytime he started.

But Mata has been very meh for us. Just very weak and ineffective, bar the odd goal. He's not a bad player but a slower and less physical league would suit him far better.
 
Mata was signed just because we wanted to make a statement. Neither the team nor the manager suited him. I do not think we even tried to rectify this, really.

I think a major issue was that we did not have the wingers to utilise his abilities. At Chelsea, he had Hazard and Willian who he linked with really well. Who did we have? Nani was gone half a season later; Valencia turned into a right-back ; we had not signed a winger since 2009. Eventually, we did sign Di Maria in 2014, but he didn't want to be here after half a season. Di Maria was playing through the centre at the start for Van Gaal, anyway, and Mata was moved to the right.

He almost reached a combined value of 60 goals and assists over two seasons at Chelsea playing as a number 10, which shows that he could perform in the Premier League. We actually rarely played him in that position, which was another issue. We kept sticking him on the right-wing, even though he only put in a few good/great performances there e.g. he was great against Liverpool under Van Gaal.

I do not think he was a flop, but I do think that the reason why he did not fulfill what he could have been here was more to do with the club mishandling him.
 
Great servant, always given 100% and has produced several moments of magic. Perhaps not as consistent as we all hoped, but also not helped by frequently being played out of position and various managers (Van Gaal in particular) not taking the opportunity to build the team around him.

Ironically, many of his best performances actually probably came during Mourinho's first season.
 
He should never have been bought. I still believe he was bought solely to boost morale in a terrible season in a last ditch effort to stop our decline under Moyes. We had Kagawa who IMO suited us more that we kept playing on the left for some reason.
 
If a player, switches clubs and in his prime and plays well below the level of his previous club, he's a flop. My take at least.
 
He's a flop for sure. Bought with mega bucks with high expectation to take us to another level, he couldn't nailed on first teamer even when we were shite.
 
There must be a reason why he was so successful at Chelsea. If the condition was not the same then he may not be able to to produce his form at Chelsea.
For sure he is a top bloke and a model professional.
 
Foxbatt said:
There must be a reason why he was so successful at Chelsea. If the condition was not the same then he may not be able to to produce his form at Chelsea.
For sure he is a top bloke and a model professional.
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He might have had better players around him at Chelsea.
 
Feels like Mata is squarely in that area between flop and success. It's exactly the same as Berbatov.

Now if you're looking for flops... Depay, Schneiderlin, Falcao, Di Maria, Sanchez.
 
noodlehair said:
He's not been a flop at all.

We signed him for Moyes when Moyes didn't even know how to use him or what position to play him in. Then two years later we hire the manager who was literally the same person who sold him to us due to seeing him as a misfit.

For someone who was signed under such stupid circumstances and who's been given a pretty shitty hand while here, he's done pretty well. He's played important parts in winning us trophies. Memorable moments like the goal against Juve, goals at Anfield. Generally made himself an important player under both LVG and Mourinho.

I do think he's been off the ball for a long while now but if I was asked if I was glad we signed him it'd be a fairly easy yes. I mean for all the terrible signings we've made surely not many people go around thinking "if only we'd not signed Mata"
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Read this thread and you might a number of people saying that. As you said, I think he's not been given the ideal platform on which to succeed by his managers over the last few years. My only big complaint about his playing style is that he can be overly deferential at times - too quick to recycle possession, when sometime you wish he would take the player on or have a go from distance. In a strange way, that was was perfect for what LVG wanted, but I think it blunted Mata's confidence. Anyway, I love the guy and really can't see how he can be seen as a flop.
 
Rood said:
Depends on your definition of flop I suppose, for me someone who has been around for that long and had many good games for us can't be described as a flop.
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Juanfield aside, how many outstanding performances have we actually had from him? He's been pretty good a fair few times but has often been completely underwhelming. Last year or so he's been pretty much pointless.
 
Not good enough easily dispossessed too slow. Hasnt brought anything to the table. 37 million wasted imo
 
He’s been an important part of several trophy wins, been a model pro and a good technical footballer.
If you have the memory of a goldfish, then yeah, he’s a flop.
 
He has been good - at times very good, at times average. He hasn't been as good as I hoped - but you can't call a midfielder with 33 goals in 169 games a flop. I would say he has been a 6.5/10 - maybe 7 if you add to the fact that he probably has a very positive influence on the squad. I have yet to hear anyone say one bad word about Mata
 
Dec9003 said:
He’s been an important part of several trophy wins, been a model pro and a good technical footballer.
If you have the memory of a goldfish, then yeah, he’s a flop.
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Agreed.

He is almost certainly past his best, but still useful - he might not be the quickest physically, but is probably the quickest mentally. We look more creative when he plays. A few seasons ago, United fans were claiming he was better than David Silva, which he likely was at the time - he was scoring and creating goals and inspired the Special Juan banner. Those who claim he's made little contribution should think about why the banner was made.

He's been used out of position for most of his time here, and has spent a lot of the time on the subs bench, but has never whinged. There are several in the team who haven't delivered as much as they should, if at all, but for some reason it's Mata who gets the most criticism not just here but on Twitter, where he's tagged so likely sees it...does he really deserve that?

It amazes me that some 'United fans' seem to have Mata at the top of their list of useless players, when in comparison, Matic is virtually ignored. I can think of far more games where Mata has contributed than I can for Matic. I would never go on social media and direct those kind of comments directly at Matic though - or at any player.
 
lysglimt said:
He has been good - at times very good, at times average. He hasn't been as good as I hoped - but you can't call a midfielder with 33 goals in 169 games a flop. I would say he has been a 6.5/10 - maybe 7 if you add to the fact that he probably has a very positive influence on the squad. I have yet to hear anyone say one bad word about Mata
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He's a 10, not a midfielder. I would say Mata has been the ultimate 6/10 signing. I've said why I think that further up.
 
wolvored said:
Not good enough easily dispossessed too slow. Hasnt brought anything to the table. 37 million wasted imo
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Yeh. It's equal to 80-100m in todays transfer. If Maguire has a career like Mata at United; just play here and there, and never nails that starting XI; wouldn't he be a flop?

If you buy a player, then several years down the road, you know you wouldn't sign him (at least for that much money) if you could turn back time. I think that's the sign of a flop.
 
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Considering his reputation and the record fee (at the time) we paid for him, absolutely, he is a big flop. Brought absolutely nothing to the team since he signed.
 
Would you like to clarify what 'absolutely nothing' means.
 
I think people have 2 definitions of "flop".

Some people think it means totally useless, which he was.
Others think it means performed below expectations, which he did.

I tend to think the latter.
 
Flops a bit harsh. Scored some good goals and has been a good pro.

Not a good signing though. I'd say disappointing, rather than "Flop"
 
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