The Manchester City midfielder will face his Spain team-mate in Tuesday’s Manchester derby in their first meeting since Mata became United’s £37.1 million club record signing in January.
He is a big admirer of Mata, who was also a colleague in his time at Valencia, but the World Cup winner has had a patchy time at Old Trafford and Silva feels United are wasting a valuable resource.
“They have not managed to bring out the best out in him but he is a very talented player and he will show it,” Silva told The Independent.
Mata is yet to score for United and has only made two of his eight appearances in a central role, the one he said publicly that he prefers.
Silva, who rejected talk of a summer move to Barcelona, said: “He wasn’t getting the minutes at Chelsea so it was a good move for him to go to United.”
How good may depend on how he is used by David Moyes in the team. Fellow United midfielder Darren Fletcher is in little doubt which position would be best for Mata.
“Some of Juan’s touches were fantastic,” Fletcher told MUTV after the West Ham win. “He pulled one out of the sky in the first half that was sublime.
“[Behind the forward] is Juan’s natural position, he likes playing in there. And with the likes of Wayne running in behind defenders, he’ll [Mata] always look to find him.
“We had great movement going forward and pace in the wide areas. People have been wanting to see that and it was there today.”
Written by Steve Milne
