Rate Mata's United career

Far bigger feels about this compared to Pogba and Lingard.
 
Right decision for everyone. I hope he goes to a club where he plays regularly and enjoys the last few years of his career.
 
The timing is right, but Mata leaves with nothing but respect and well wishes, having been a model professional every day of his time here.

All the best Juan! I still think he could tear it up in Italy for a few years if he still feels like it!
 
Thanks for everything Juan. Ultimately it should and could have been a better career overall at United but we'll always have Juanfield.
All the best memories about him, nice guy and true professional.
 
A stark reminder not to sign a player without a plan of where to fit him into the team. A mistake we then repeated several times at an immense cost to the club and our chances of success.

Isolated moments of greatness, more so than Pogba, but an expensive mistake we clung on to for far too long.
 
5/10. Thanks for the goal in the FA cup final and the goals against Liverpool and Juventus. But ultimately, too underwhelming especially in his later years here. At least he has a good attitude and is a likable person.

All the best at your next club~
 
Did a better job at PR with the fans than on the pitch. Rashford should take notes. Stop feeding kids & pander to the fanbase.

In fairness to Mata he never got the opportunity to play in the 10 with a coherent team around him but a few other players who’ve recently left haven’t been surrounded in their best positions by competence either. Disappointment is the sentiment.
 
I remember Juan Mata as the player who together with Daley Blind could play Van Gaals football, and was a stand out player at the time. He was a bad fit for Moyes, Mourinho and Solskjær due to his profile and later to his waning step and stamina. Still he was one of the players who could affect the course of a game coming from the bench. His Scholes-like prescience and elegance was a joy to behold at best, him being cought up and bodied over a frustrating sight increasing in frequence.

His sense of poetry and initiative to address economical imbalances speak a lot about him, as does the many coaches and players who has pointed to him as one of the consistently healthy forces in the dressing room. Fond memories!
 
Murder on Zidane's Floor said:
Ok, but still good return for a "nothing" player.
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He wasn't always a nothing player, but he definitely has been for four years now - of his 66 goal involvements in the PL, 54 came before 2018.

Whether it's a good return depends on your criteria I guess - he's been productive enough, but other players with better numbers won't get anywhere near the same affection when they leave*: Mata's averaged a goal contribution every 185 minutes for us - Martial is on 137, Rashford 131, Pogba (despite all the time playing deeper in midfield) 197. Half this forum will be celebrating if the former two are sold this summer and claiming they were complete wastes of space throughout their time here. Guess that's the sort of revisionism that happens when you're a nice guy!

(*edit: just went into Pogba's leaving topic and the person I'm responding to here is in there saying Lingard was better than him over the last 5 years. Case in point, really)
 
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Mata's an example of the right player in the "wrong era" of United team. The corollary to that is the "right era" United team wouldn't have signed him.

He did have some nice moments and has always been professional. Wish him the best.
 
A career which could have been as great as Silva had he gone to City.
 
Jibbs said:
A career which could have been as great as Silva had he gone to City.
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No chance, Silva was levels above Mata as a player, quicker, more dynamic, a much more creative passer, stronger on the ball, just much more to his game. Their basic stats in terms of goals and assists are probably fairly similar but I can't see Mata as close to that level, City have had Silva, Bernardo and Foden, all 3 with some similarities to Mata, but all 3 better to my eyes.

Chelsea being happy to let him go after the 2 most productive seasons of his career can't be ignored, his limitations were already obvious at that point.
 
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Bobski said:
No chance, Silva was levels above Mata as a player, quicker, more dynamic, a much more creative passer, stronger on the ball, just much more to his game. Their basic stats in terms of goals and assists are probably fairly similar but I can't see Mata as close to that level, City have had Silva, Bernardo and Foden, all 3 with some similarities to Mata, but all 3 better to my eyes.

Chelsea being happy to let him go after the 2 most productive seasons of his career can't be ignored, his limitations were already obvious at that point.
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Not Chelsea…Morinho. He sold Salah and KDB as well. Mata was their player of the season when they won Champions League
 
Man utd never played to his strengths , great player and imo a great player only but came at wrong time for us, incredibly nice guy though, can I ask a question, who has biggest impact in terms of results last 8 yrs, lingard or mata
 
Not a chance he's been better than Pogba. That's for sure. Couldn't even get in the 11 for most of his career here
 
King Azaz the Unabridged said:
He wasn't always a nothing player, but he definitely has been for four years now - of his 66 goal involvements in the PL, 54 came before 2018.

Whether it's a good return depends on your criteria I guess - he's been productive enough, but other players with better numbers won't get anywhere near the same affection when they leave*: Mata's averaged a goal contribution every 185 minutes for us - Martial is on 137, Rashford 131, Pogba (despite all the time playing deeper in midfield) 197. Half this forum will be celebrating if the former two are sold this summer and claiming they were complete wastes of space throughout their time here. Guess that's the sort of revisionism that happens when you're a nice guy!

(*edit: just went into Pogba's leaving topic and the person I'm responding to here is in there saying Lingard was better than him over the last 5 years. Case in point, really)
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He can't force managers to play him.
 
Gopher Brown said:
A stark reminder not to sign a player without a plan of where to fit him into the team. A mistake we then repeated several times at an immense cost to the club and our chances of success.

Isolated moments of greatness, more so than Pogba, but an expensive mistake we clung on to for far too long.
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Fellaini was the 1st, Mata only 2nd.

Even with so called Flop like Veron, Berbatov, Djemba-Djemba, Klberson, we did have plan, just did not perform as expected. May be Berbatov was a change of mind in the middle. But Fellaini and Mata, follow by Sanchez, including Kagawa, Mahit, VDB, were simply too many hit and miss, like shopping on internet.
 
Underwhelming and lacking in ambition. For all the he's a nice guy and hugs bs, he was very willing to keep picking up cheques knowing full well he'd barely get a kick. Infinitely forgettable.
 
I really wanted him to succeed here. Shame that it never worked out. And I can't help but feel that he wasted his best years here. He really could have been making a big difference at another club that played to his strengthens and didn't just stick him on the wing for 8 years. A real shame that he's, as said above, forgettable in the long run.
 
7. An absolute class act - on and off the field. Stayed professional throughout his time here and I imagine was a great player to work with for our managers. Probably should have left a couple of years ago as he couldn't keep up with the pace of the premier league, but overall great memories and a fan favorite.
 
100 thi
stevoc said:
He hasn't delivered on those expectations but on the other hand was he ever really given a chance?

Moys didn't know what to do with him, we already had Rooney, Kagawa and Fellaini when Mata was signed.

Van Gaal and Mourinho shunted him out on the right wing a position he's obviously not suited for. Jose occasionally tried him centrally but as soon as he lost a physical battle he was back out waddling about on the right.

I like Mata and I was a fan of his before he joined United but I honestly have no idea why he's stayed this long. He's been nothing but a bit part player for the best part of 4 seasons now.
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100% this.
 
Helicopter : 10/10
Juanfield : 10/10
Mannerism : 9/10
Loyalty : 9/10
Overall impact : 6.87/10
 
Dan_F said:
Right decision for everyone. I hope he goes to a club where he plays regularly and enjoys the last few years of his career.
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I can see him in Everton playing under Frank and taking some coaching badges as well.
 
It's a waste for both the club and him. He should have gone back to Spain after his second/third year at United. Spanish football would suit him much better.
 
It's funny that despite being here for so long, I will still probably remember him for his time at Chelsea.
 
Another marquee signing that we failed. Make no mistake he was a marquee signing. Player of the year from our rivals. Yet we played him out of position to accommodate a player who was already past it.

We took a technical, skilful, intelligent, patient number 10 and played him as a winger in a team that was used to having fast wingers.
 
Nordmore said:
It's a waste for both the club and him. He should have gone back to Spain after his second/third year at United. Spanish football would suit him much better.
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He was one of the best players in the league at Chelsea.
 
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