Juan Mata deserves better than Manchester United

Juan Mata has seen his career go downhill since he made the move from Chelsea FC to Manchester United and the diminutive playmaker deserves better treatment

It is not often that a player of Juan Mata’s caliber is overlooked but that was the case when the Spain squad for Euro 2016 was released on Tuesday. Manager Vincente Del Bosque chose ten midfielders but the Manchester United playmaker was not among them.

While he was never an automatic starter for Spain, Mata was always seen as one of the first men selected to fill out the nation’s talented bench. Now, because of the way things have gone in his career Mata has been left out in the cold in favor of less heralded players like Saul Niguez or Isco.

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What caused this slide? How did Mata go from Chelsea FC’s player of the year two years running to being an afterthought for United and Spain? The simple answer is that he has been cruelly mismanaged by two very difficult managers.

First it was Jose Mourinho at Chelsea FC. Mourinho felt that Juan Mata did not work hard enough in defense and could not fit in to his tactics. He wanted a more physical player at the number ten role and ended up with Oscar or somewhat ironically, Cesc Fabregas.

The irony in this is that Fabregas is just as defensively-challenged as Mata and he was not part of the Chelsea squad until the 2014-15 season. To add to this irony In Mourinho’s first season, Chelsea’s primary problem was the inability to unlock stubborn defenses which is precisely what Mata excelled at.

Mata may not have been able to stand up to the physicality of teams with more dominant midfields but against lower-level opposition and their “19^th century tactics” he would have been perfect. Unfortunately at that point Mata was already relegated to the bench and then sold to Manchester United.

At United Mata thought he would have the chance to impress once again and earn his way in to the 2014 World Cup squad for Spain. Mata made the squad after a solid second half of the season with the Red Devils and things were looking up for him at Old Trafford.