da esport bet： The summer window may have closed but the winds of change continue to circle Old Trafford. The murmurings on the transfer grapevine claim Manchester United could sell Juan Mata in January, only a year after their £37million investment in the Spain international.
da betcris： This isn’t usual Manchester United behaviour, but admittedly, these are anything-but-usual times at Carrington. So why would the Premier League side be prepared to throw away such a costly signing after just twelve months? Is this the right decision?
No one can doubt the Spaniard meets the standard of player you’d expect at Manchester United, unlike a significant portion of the current squad, and there have certainly been bigger, more influential culprits in the Old Trafford side’s recent plight than him.
After all, we’re talking about a 32-cap Spain international who boasts World Cup and European Championship winners’ medals, as well as two consecutive Player of the Year awards at his former club Chelsea, all at the relatively young age of 26. His form since moving to Old Trafford in January 2014 has been consistent too; seven goals and four assists in 18 Premier League appearances is precisely the level of output you’d expect from an attacking midfielder at top level.
Mata is by no means a failed purchase and his £37million transfer fee – a club record at the time – was an important statement of United’s intent in the market after their horrific first six months under David Moyes. Without his arrival in January, the Red Devils would likely have found it considerably harder to attract big names this summer.
Nine months, two managers, several formations and many different roles later however, the midfielder is still yet to find his place in Manchester United’s first team. In fact, it appears that Mata’s presence in the starting XI has caused more problems than it’s solved.
Initially he was tested out wide but as Jose Mourinho had previously prophesized, the former Blues star lacks the natural athleticism and defensive commitment for that role. Van Gaal has seen evidence of this too albeit at No.10; the 3-4-1-2 formation requires both high pressing and tracking back at the tip of midfield. Neither can be considered particular strengths of Mata’s.
Of course, the central berth gives Mata license to do what he does best – control the game from the middle of the park and find regular sight of goal.
But that position has more commonly been filled by Wayne Rooney over the last few years at Manchester United. Getting both players onto the pitch at the same, in addition to Robin van Persie, without compromising each individual’s ultimate utility, is a conundrum both David Moyes and Louis van Gaal are yet to adequately solve.
Indeed, the current United boss claims that has in-part influenced his decision to bring 3-4-1-2 to Old Trafford, a formation completely alien to the club’s traditional philosophy and identity. Thus far, the wholesale change in systems has only created further problems and the situation will be further exacerbated by the late summer arrivals of Angel Di Maria and Radamel Falcao – two incredibly expensive signings Louis van Gaal now can’t afford to leave out of his starting line-ups.
It’s important not to scapegoat a player, especially one as a talented as Juan Mata, and it’s incredibly easy to pin Manchester United’s many intrinsic problems upon the Spaniard. He’s only had the pleasure of representing the Red Devils during their darkest patch in the last three decades and considering the limited impact he’s actually had on results, combined with his bulging transfer fee and the absence of an obvious slot for him in the starting XI, one could rightly argue that the playmaker was a panic buy.
After a mixed start to his Old Trafford career – for many reasons out of his control – only time will tell if Mata’s transfer fee can eventually be justified. Surrounding him with like-minded, equally technical players, such as Ander Herrera and Angel Di Maria, can only be a good thing for the Spain international.
Yet the prevailing issue is finance. A few years ago, Manchester United and even Chelsea would happily have kept Mata within their ranks, even if he featured only twenty or thirty times a season in a limited capacity.
Now however, we all find ourselves living within the realm of Financial Fair Play; although Ed Woodward has claimed they have the power to sign “a Luis Suarez every summer,” even one of the Premier League’s most profitable club can’t justify a £7.8million-per-year salary for a bench-warmer. With further recruitment reportedly planned for January after the Red Devils’ £150million spend this summer, the potential £25million Juventus are willing to pay for Mata’s services could become vital to keeping United in UEFA’s good books financially.
The situation is reminiscent of David Luiz’s at Chelsea this summer. Like Mata, the Brazilian is highly talented but fatally flawed. Like Mata, his ambiguous role within the squad made him more relevant as a market entity than it did a Chelsea player. Like Mata, he’s an inherited star of a relatively new manager. All three factors combined make him, like Luiz, expendable.
There’s a long time between now and January and admittedly, it seems rather bizarre to oust a single player when United’s entire starting XI, game-plan and philosophy is some way off it’s maxim. But the weekend could provide a vital insight into Louis van Gaal’s thinking; this will be the first match where he’s forced to choose between the established players and his new signings. Should the £37million man be left on the bench against QPR, it’s likely his future at United past the January window has come under threat.