Juan Mata came, he conquered, and was forgotten about. The ‘Wizard’s’ last home game for Manchester United emphasised his misspent quality.
For Manchester United – a club in turmoil, in need of calm heads, desperate for humility amid the arrogance, quality amid the mediocre – to hand Juan Mata his first Premier League start of the season in May is an absolute nonsense.
The ‘Wizard’, denied legendary status in the Premier League through Red Devil mismanagement and ill-thought-out strategy, trotted around Old Trafford on Monday, working hard, creating and – perhaps most importantly – caring, to give the United fans a final glimpse of what they should have seen far more of in seven-and-a-half years of wasted talent.
Mata arrived at the club having won back-to-back player of the year awards with Chelsea, as one of the Premier League’s foremost creators. He contributed the same number of assists (32) in two-and-half seasons at Chelsea as he has done in the rest of his decade-long stint in the English top flight. He very nearly surpassed his Chelsea tally on Monday.
It was prime Mata. Having wandered over to the left wing from his floating No.10 role, he beautifully cushioned a volley to Bruno Fernandes on halfway, beat the offside trap to spin in behind, received the return ball, before weighting a cross perfectly into Cristiano Ronaldo’s path. Had CR7 held his run by half a second, Mata’s brilliance would not have been in vain.
And that is, in a way, an excellent summary of his United career, as Ronaldo, like his club, failed to take advantage of Mata’s quality.
As Gary Neville referenced on commentary, the signing of Mata in January 2014 is in hindsight seen as the first of many signs of post-Fergie fuzzy-thinking. Having signed Marouane Fellaini six months before, David Moyes opted for the polar opposite as his second and final signing. Neither the Belgian brute nor the diminutive graduate of the Real Madrid academy were midfielders like…
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