Has Juan Mata been a flop?

Hes just another square peg in a round hole. If we used a system that he fit into, he would have been one of the greats for us. Unfortunately hes been missused his entire time here and that LAM position that he was so good in for chelsea just doesnt appear to be used anymore. Much like DDG, I think hes wasted his best years here under club management that has no ambition or direction. Nicest guy in the world, who clearly loves the club and the fans, but I think looking back in retirement he'll regret his time here.
 
Absolutely no way has he been a flop. He's been a good player during piss poor time at the club. There's been times where he's stepped up when many others havent looked bothered. He'll leave this club well liked by the supporters, the players and the staff, as well as the supporters of his previous and future clubs. A model pro. Wish there was more like him.
 
He would have been immense in the 08-13 era.

He has been a successful squad player in a rocky era; nowhere near a flop, nowhere near a legend. At least he always knew what he was doing on the pitch (most of the time) and had some moments of pure class/brilliance.

Flop was Di María, Falcao and Sánchez.
 
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He's not a flop. He has been pretty decent for us. Juanfield alone is worth what we paid for him.
 
He's not a flop because he's not been completely hopeless during his time here.
20+goals and 30+assist is hardly a flop considering the numbers our attackers has delivering in the last 6 years, not a fantastic transfer either considering the expectation he came with having been Chelsea's best player for two seasons in a row.
After he leaves he'll be remembered as just an ex man United player,nothing more nothing less.
 
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Set up never favoured him. he liked to drift inside when playing on the right. The issue here is we didn't have a marauding right back to offer the attacking width down that flank. So we had a right winger who drifted inside and right backs who didn't have the pace or attacking intent to take on and get past the opposition full back. Typical of our haphazard approach in recent seasons. Through big money at a known quantity regardless of whether or not he fits into the set up. At best he's a neat little tidy player, that will be more suited to a team who dominates possession.
 
Definitely not.
I actually think he was one of our better players out of a bad bunch. By far the most intelligent player who actually gave us a quite a few goals than I’d expected. Just a shame he didn’t have the legs & a bigger shame he didn’t have quality players around him.
 
A flop by Fergie's standards (such as Berbatov, Veron and Forlan). A decent deal considering our current level. If we were to have United's versions of Berbatov or Veron in our team they would've instantly become (at least one of) our best players.
 
We signed one of the best #10s in the league and put him out on the right wing for 90% of his career here, if he's a flop our managers in the time are to blame.

I can't label him a flop, too many big goals.
 
He has been mostly a squad player here, now we are debating if we should renew his contract or let him go for free, I think it’s pretty clear that he’s a flop.
 
Schmeichel's Cartwheel said:
We signed one of the best #10s in the league and put him out on the right wing for 90% of his career here, if he's a flop our managers in the time are to blame.

I can't label him a flop, too many big goals.
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Agree with this.

Totally wasted out on the right. Would have been better in CM than RW.

Such a neat gifted player.

Underused but to his credit he always gave 110%. Shame others haven't over the years

Not a flop.
 
Schmeichel's Cartwheel said:
We signed one of the best #10s in the league and put him out on the right wing for 90% of his career here, if he's a flop our managers in the time are to blame.

I can't label him a flop, too many big goals.
Click to expand...
yep, then people have a go at him for not being able to cover ground. Woefully misused for his time here but he got on with it
 
Not close to a flop, would be very harsh but definitely underwhelming. For all the talk about Mata's lack of physical ability, which is evident, I have actually found his play on the ball quite frustrating. For me, he has been too cowardly on the ball, maybe Van Gaal ruined him, but far too often he has chosen the safe pass in an attacking situation. You would expect Mata to play some passes like Paul Pogba, and it's not like he can't do it he did it for Chelsea, but he just seems to be afraid to make a mistake or lose possession. As a result you get a player who doesn't get half as many assists as he should.

Obviously this has not been helped by managers playing him on the right and poor ball movement in behind, but you still expect a bit more. He's been here six seasons so you can't hide behind those excuses for that length of time.
 
I think he's been a really bad signing, considering his fee at the time he was our record signing, he never nailed down a starting position under any manager in any role. What saves him from the flak others get is that he has, in fairness, given us some really great memories and he's a very humble, likeable bloke. He's actually a really good footballer but he was never what we needed and never has been, overstayed his welcome IMO.
 
No, but he was better in Chelsea, that's for sure. I mean most of our signings are like... good players getting shit while playing for us. but Mata was not that bad as others, he even had good games, can't compare to him to Lukaku, Fred or Matic or Pogba, who can play great game, once per month or two. Mata had better ratio of good games and also didn't play on his position, so far from flop.
 
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Hes been alright, not a flop by any means. Just another victim of negative system, negative players around him, and also weirdly being shunted constantly to the right when his best positions over the years has been left wing (valencia) or behind the striker (chelsea).

At least he doesn't belong to the Sanchez-di Maria trash can of flops
 
Not a flop but really hasn't lived up to expectations. Played out of position more often than not but always tried. That's a sad commentary on a rather excellent player.
 
He has played at his level, at Chelsea and here. I think the main problem with Mata has been David Silva. Both left footed, small, Spanish and from Valencia, people seem to think he should be playing like Silva.
Plus this fascination that managers have of playing him on the right wing has not helped him one bit!
 
Bought under the flawed perception that he could be our David Silva, but has never come close to that level. It was a lot of money at the time as well, but outside of some high quality moments he has never made himself a key member of the team. Don't think it is positional either, does not have the creative quality that the best attacking midfielders possess, far too safe with his passing, decent finisher, which is his best trait.

Wrong player then, still the wrong player now, pointless trying to keep him.

We can blame the positional issue, but his performances have never been good enough in that role(10) at Utd to build a team around him. His career stats will make him seem like a much better player than he actually was when future generations look back.
 
Last year or two haven't been great but largely speaking he was one of our best players every season hes been here. Never suited us that much imo and would have had more success elsewhere but thought he was one our better post fergie signings. Maybe our best signing full stop (who else is there? Pogba?)
 
Absolute flop, but I dont regret it because he's a nice guy, an absolute rarity in football or even among celebrities in general and I'm glad he spent some time at our club. I hope he becomes an ambassador for us when he finishes his playing career.
 
Not a flop in my view. I think we’ve actually let him down and it’s on our management/coaching that we never got the best out of him. Very upsetting.
 
Di Maria & Falcao were flops, Mata is more of an underperformer, played out of position with glimpses of genius, such as one against Pool.

When you know his pace is what's keeping him down and play him on the wing, there's no other outcome. Doing that in other leagues would be wasteful but in Premier League is just plain dumbf*ckery. This is exactly what at some point makes him a flop and I hate to admit that.
 
He's not a flop. He was signed more for his name rather than how he would fit in our system. Much like Kagawa, we never played using a formation which requires the role he used to be best at.
 
He’s in that bracket where he wasn’t a flop or a success. A bit like Quinton Fortune or Saha
 
He should have been played in the number 10 position over Rooney when he joined, he is not and has never been a RW. Definitely not a flop though, and again another scapegoat for much of our failings.. why do Rashford, Smalling, Jones and Lingard get such a free pass.
 
If we had maintained a title challenging team, Mata wouldn’t have got a look in for the past 3 years imo.
 
Probably a flop when you think of the reputation and transfer fee (relative to the time) that he came with. There have been far far worse signings than him though

Always gets a few goals/assists a season but I can't ever remember thinking he's had a great season or been consistently good for a long run of games - it seems more like one off great performances like Juanfield.
 
Neither success nor flop.

Berbatov better than Mata.
Mata better than Veron.

I don't rate the Mata at Chelsea that much, too limited. I think what he did for us so far met my low expectations. Sort of like just okay.. just fine.. nothing hugely successful, not a failure either. So just pass.
 
Not a flop, but I think expectations of how good he would be when we signed him were way too high. He seemed to be heralded as a saviour when actually he was someone who played in Rooney's position and wasn't as good as Rooney. Signed under a manager who had no clue how to best use any of his players really.

I know he arguably did better at Chelsea but that was in a poor Chelsea side and ultimately we ended up signing him because he couldn't get in their team as soon as they began to improve.

When you take him for what he is he's been a good player for us. If we'd used him to his strengths rather than as a winger he'd have also been a significantly better one, for me.

You wouldn't use scholes on the wing. Mata isn't in the same class but in terms of his attributes you're hampering him in exactly the same way
 
Please remember that we won league titles with Veron and Berba - and they made significant contributions in title winning seasons

Mata hasn't come anywhere close to that level of success.
 
I struggle with Mata because I think he seems like lovely chap but I don't like the way he plays at all. Considering the way transfer fees are now, no. He's contributed a good amount of valuable goals and assists. If you expected David Silva then you would consider him a flop but he was never that player.

I would have personally preferred that we persisted with Kagawa but I might be biased because I really enjoy Kagawa's style of play.
 
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