Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has insisted that Juan Mata still has a part to play at the club, despite fears the Spaniard may be frozen out by the Special One for a second time.
Chelsea fans will remember that it was the Portuguese chief, then in charge at Stamford Bridge, who sold Mata to United for £37.1m in 2014.
And the doubts about Mata’s relationship with Mourinho surfaced again in Sunday’s Community Shield clash with Leicester City, when Mourinho hauled Mata off after bringing him on thirty minutes earlier.
When questioned about the reasoning behind substituting the substitute, Mourinho replied: ‘I needed to take off the smallest player because we were expecting a lot of long balls.’
Despite that, whilst admitting that Mata’s time on the pitch may be limited, Mourinho insisted that the midfielder still has a future at United.
Mourinho said: ‘We care about him, because we think he’s a talented player, but to be in the same squad as (Anthony) Martial, (Henrikh) Mkhitaryan, Mata, Ashley Young, Memphis Depay, would mean not many matches.’
Everton have been linked with a move for Mata.
By Steve Osborne @BlizzardSteve75
