Manchester United playmaker Juan Mata is no longer an overlooked, underrated gem of a player. The numbers and stats have been there, but now he’s getting the accolades too. Mata is United’s Player of the Month for September (here’s more on that), and it comes at the same exact time that his teammate Anthony Martial was awarded Premier League Player of the Month (here’s more on that).
Mata didn’t quite fit in at Chelsea under Jose Mourinho’s system, so David Moyes brought him over to United in January of 2014 for a then club record setting £37.1 million.
That sum has since been eclipsed by Angel Di Maria (£59.7 million summer 2014).
How valuable has Juan Mata been to United this year? Well, his 16 chances created are more than double any other United player. Mata has also either scored or assisted on more goals over the past five seasons than any other midfielder in the Premier League during that span.
“If a luxury player is a player who scores and assists and has good stats, then I’m happy to be a luxury player,” Mata told The Times at a Special Olympics project in Madrid.
“I’ve scored as many goals for Manchester United in the Premier League as for Chelsea, but in something like 30 games less. In terms of scoring and assisting I’m quite happy with the stats, and stats don’t lie. They are facts.”
He’s right; like the cliche says “stats don’t lie.” It took some time for Manager Louis van Gaal to find a spot, and then the right spot for the Spaniard, but now he’s as essential an invididual player as any within the Red Devils starting XI. He’s one of the key spark plugs on the pitch, and one of the main team leaders off the pitch.
Juan Mata is also completely fine with having the “luxury label” applied to him.
“I want luxury players in my team. I like creative players, and players who do different things. It’s easy to say certain players are luxuries, especially when you’ve lost a game. When you lose, a certain kind of player — the creative players — always get the blame.”
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