Not many footballers quote Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, physicist Albert Einstein and psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in their autobiography, but Juan Mata is a little different to most in his profession.
From Valencia to Chelsea and on to Manchester United, this Spanish World Cup and Champions League winner is a footballer who has commanded the respect and admiration of team-mates in his dressing room and the fans of the clubs he has represented, with former clubs still affording him warm welcomes when he has returned to play against them after a big-money move.
As he spoke at the 2019 launch of his book ‘Suddenly A Footballer’ in the Manchester restaurant owned by his father, he opened up on a variety of topics that may not be topics most footballers would embrace.
You wrote a lot in your book about your modest ambitions in the game, so is it fair to say you have exceeded your own expectations?
When I started, my aim was to be a professional football player and play in the first division. My dad didn’t quite manage to get to that level and that set a target for me to try and reach.
Once I achieved that in Spain, everything that came after that was great. To win trophies with Chelsea, to win the World Cup with Spain, to join a great club like Manchester United.
So yes, I would say my career has exceeded my own expectations, that is true. But when you reach this level and you are playing for a club like Manchester United, I don’t say, ‘That’s it, I have arrived and I am happy to settle for this.’ I always want more and maybe that is a reason why my career has included so many special moments.
In my professional life, I’ve always had a passion to improve, to get better and not to take anything for granted. That is what has helped me to play at this high level for such a long time and win big trophies.
What are the driving forces behind the success you have enjoyed with club and country?
In my professional life, I’ve always had a passion to improve, to get better and not to take anything for granted. That is what has helped me to play at this high level for such a long time and win big trophies. Maybe only when I finish my career, you start to look back and think about what you have done.
There is a theory that we have a lack of leaders in the modern game. Would you agree with that?
I would say we still have big characters. When I was at Chelsea, you would say John Terry, Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba and Branislav Ivanovic had…
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