Manchester United may sell Juan Mata over latest Mourinho row

Manchester United have a huge decision to make over the future of midfielder Juan Mata

To the surprise of absolutely no one associated with Manchester United, midfielder Juan Mata and manager Jose Mourinho have rekindled their rivalry. The only surprising thing is that it took an actual competitive match to revive the war between the two strong personalities. Many assumed it would happen much sooner.

The latest edition of the high-profile conflict came as Mata was subbed off late in United’s 2-1 Community Shield win over Leicester City yesterday. Ordinarily subbing Mata off in the closing moments might not seem like a big deal. However, on this occasion, it was the substitution of a substitute by Mourinho.

As such, Mata was visually incensed as he came off the pitch. Mourinho, in the interest of fairness, tried to smooth things over as the Spaniard exited the pitch, but he was entirely unsuccessful. Mata’s contempt for his manager was unmistakable as he strode by him during the match’s closing moments.

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After the match, The Special One did explain the substitution as being a result of Mata’s lack of stature. His rationale was that Leicester were going to try to find an equalizer by either a long throw-in or long ball into the box in the match’s last moments. Mata was the shortest United player still on the pitch, and as a result, was Mourinho’s choice to come off.

You’ve got to give Mourinho an A for effort on the explanation. He’s picked an entirely defensible line of thinking to explain snubbing Mata. If it were any other manager, we might be inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Mourinho isn’t a typical manager though. He’s a combative personality that has a long history of personal conflicts with high-profile players. Even more specifically, he and Mata have a sordid past. Mata was unceremoniously sold from Chelsea during Mourinho’s tenure and the two have engaged in an ugly war of words at various times over the past several years.

As such, it’s entirely justified for Mata to believe that his manager was trying to take a shot at him by the late substitution. There’s little chance that anyone will be able to convince the former Spanish international that Mourinho wasn’t trying to insult him. That means Manchester United are going to have a difficult choice on their hands in the next few days.

Officials at the club are going to have to make a choice between Mata and Mourinho. In actuality, it won’t be much of a decision for Ed Woodward and company. They knew when they hired Mourinho that the chances of him getting along with Mata were quite small. They may have foolishly hoped the two would reconcile their difference when Mourinho arrived at Old Trafford, but that clearly isn’t going to happen.