May 2013. Juan Mata is awarded Chelseas Player of the Year for the second successive season. January 2014. Juan Mata signs for Manchester United in a deal worth £37.1 million. A lot can change in six months, and in the case of Stamford Bridges former Spanish playmaker, it was the arrival of Jose Mourinho. Who could have possibly predicted that a player with 33 goals and 58 assists to his name for the Blues, and so adorned by the Stamford Bridge faithful, would be so readily chucked out the door within a couple of months, and to one of their supposed title rivals no less? With Mourinho having remained unimpressed by Matas lack of defensive capabilities, and his preference for the Brazilian Oscar, it simply left the Spanish Zola surplus to requirements at Stamford Bridge. As for Manchester United, while it was seen as a transfer coup in some parts, it was also seen for what it was by others - a panic buy by the flailing David Moyes, as he desperately threw on another coat of gold paint to an area of the team that didnt need reinforcing. With the Japanese playmaker Shinji Kagawa hardly getting any game time, it made little sense to sign yet another No.10, when there were such glaring weaknesses in the centre of midfield and at centre-back. It was a transfer that nobody would have seen coming the previous summer, however. Indeed, if one were to tell the 12/13 Europa League winners that their Player of the Year would be poached by the Premier League champions midway through the next season, they would have laughed in disbelief at the prospect of finishing 18 points above them.
Recent Journalism & New Media graduate. Insatiable thirst for all things football, and hopes to break into the field of sports journalism in the near future.
Have made a significantly insignificant playing career out of receiving several slaps around the head for not passing the ball.
