Juan Mata has revealed his relationship with Jose Mourinho deteriorated to such an extent before his move to Manchester United that the pair weren’t speaking.
The midfield playmaker, who was crowned Chelsea’s player of the season twice, found himself frozen out during Mourinho’s second spell at Chelsea. He eventually moved to United last January for £37.1m and has since cut a much happier figure. Quickly endearing himself to the home fans, he hit a rich vein of form at the end of last season with six goals in seven games following his mid-season switch.
Mata has revealed the problems he encountered with Mourinho before his departure from the club, before confessing how happy he is in Manchester, which he calls “the real England”.
(On Mourinho) “For better or for worse, near the end, we had no relationship, there was no dialogue. I was not happy, but I always gave my most respect to my colleagues. You never know what will happen in life.””(On life in Manchester) “De Gea told me when I first arrived it was difficult because I did not know the language.He helped me a lot, and now we take a hand to Ander (Herrera, who joined the club in the summer). We spend almost every day together.”
The midfield ace was full of praise for current boss Louis van Gaal, before offering a possible reason for his continued absence from the Spanish national team.
“He has a lot of experience and I can learn a lot from him. He’s tough when he needs to be. He speaks very intensely at times, but he is also very cloe with the players. He really likes to talk to us, to find out what we think of the exercises we are doing in training.”
“Maybe I feel my values more in England than Spain. I am not mentioned at this moment (for international selection) but I am not looking for excuses or justifications.”
Mata is expected to retain his starting place when United travel to West Brom in the absence of club captain Wayne Rooney, who is suspended for the second of three matches following his red card against West Ham.
A win for the Red Devils would see them return to the top four, and they should have Phil Jones and Ander Herrera available again after injury.
By Andrew Bell (@AndrewBizzle009)
