Juan Mata | Official: Signs two-year contract with option of a third

[KiD MoYeS]

Good player, good news, great guy.

No idea why people are losing their shit over this contract extension, Mata is a great squad player with a lot to offer still. El Mago.

 

[sullydnl]

Of course it gains us many things, among them a clear sign that the club is serious about moving the deadwood out of the club.
Our club needs ruthlessness and not be seen as a retirement home for finished footballers.
We need a serious clearing if we wanna change the whole identity and direction of the club.
Extending the likes of Mata isn't helping at all.

So you'd get rid a body we need in the squad for the slog of a season we're facing simply for the sake of sending out a "sign"? Hmmmm, think I'd rather have the player. Especially if my job depended on us getting results in said season.

 

[kouroux]

So you'd get rid a body we need in the squad for the slog of a season we're facing simply for the sake of sending out a "sign"? Hmmmm, think I'd rather have the player. Especially if my job depended on us getting results in said season.

I'd only keep a body if I deem that the player can be valuable. You clearly do and I clearly don't.

 

[red4ever 79]

Good to see Ed and the club getting their transfer business sorted out. Glad to see we have been working hard to get our RW sorted out for the next 2 years.

F*ck me. Are we the only club to haggle and discuss an extension for a player out of contract. Was the same last summer with Afro if my memory serves me right. Where is this major clear out that needed to happen. So far we have renewed Jones, Young, Smalling, Rojo, Mata

 

[sullydnl]

It makes complete sense to retain him. I may be biased but you can't be looking forward to selling half the side. The club realizes that Rom is leaving, we'll sell Sanchez if any offer comes in, so we can't just sell half our front 6. Add to that, the club isn't sure about Pogba's future and the ruckus he might create. People keep harping about Gomes, but he isn't good enough yet. Chong isn't physically ready to make 30 odd appearances yet for us, atleast based on his limited appearances in senior football. Greenwood is, but they aren't competing for the same position. No one knows how good James will be, and Lingard isn't a mature enough player.
Now, I hope it's not a 3 year deal, but in case it's a 1+1 year contract, it's an understandable action taken by the club

Plus if some of them do overtake Mata in the squad, fantastic. Nothing stopping that at all. Even in that scenario we could still do with Mata in the squad though not least in terms of sheer, simple numbers. It's going to be a long season.

 

[Zoo]

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[DWelbz19]

Clearout is going well, innit?

Ruthless.

 

[MrBest]

I get why we did it, but i would not have. Good player, mature and respectable. Good for the squad, can play the 10 role and shift to the right if needed (although he gets destroyed by full backs with pace). No harm in keeping him, hopefully did not get a big increase in wage.

 

[MrSingh2002]

What the feck is this? What happened to youth and hunger?

 

[Walters_19_MuFc]

Not too sure I get it. Good player to bring in, but if we want energy and a new high pressing approach, then Mata isn't really someone we should be looking to keep at the club.

I'd rather we gave Chong a go.

 

[Kaglish10]

Mata has nothing else to offer the team yet we offer him a two years contract? He's pretty immobile nor does he have any hunger left in him since he won the CL at Chelsea some years ago. An absolutely nothing player. Even Lingard is better than him these days.

 

[Andy_Cole]

We should use him as a centre mid. A David Silva position. It’s good we have kept him. Just please not as a right winger!

 

[crossy1686]

I’m withholding judgement until the window closes, 48 days before I lose my shit.

 

[Kaglish10]

We should use him as a centre mid. A David Silva position. It’s good we have kept him. Just please not as a right winger!

He's got nothing to offer in that role. He's immobile, lacks the physique and any creative whatsoever. A nothing player these days.

 

[sp_107]

Great,

-------------- Sanchez/Rashford -------------------------------

-- Martial/Lingard ---Mata/Gomez -----James/Greenwood ---------

---------------- Fred/Perrera ---- Matic/SMT -----------------

----- Shaw/Rojo -----Smalling/Jones ----- Lindelöf/Baily ----Dalot/Young ----

---------- --------- DDG/Romero -----------------------

Why we need to sign new players?

Pogba(140)+Lukaku(60)+Darmian(10)=+210-15(James)=+195M to Glazers. All hail Ed.

if one player I would like to keep from the players put up on sale by cafetards, then it would be Mata. I like him. Hope he can still deliver in number 10 role with some decent players around him.

 

[Big Ben Foster]

Next summer: "we can't sell Jones, Young, Smalling, and Mata all at once. It's unrealistic to get rid of this many players in one window."

 

[Adcuth]

Good to see Ed and the club getting their transfer business sorted out. Glad to see we have been working hard to get our RW sorted out for the next 2 years.

F*ck me. Are we the only club to haggle and discuss an extension for a player out of contract. Was the same last summer with Afro if my memory serves me right. Where is this major clear out that needed to happen. So far we have renewed Jones, Young, Smalling, Rojo, Mata

Makes it worse that our defence is a major problem, but have renewed 4 defenders. Like they have no intention of actually fixing it.

 

[TheRedDevil'sAdvocate]

It makes complete sense to retain him. I may be biased but you can't be looking forward to selling half the side. The club realizes that Rom is leaving, we'll sell Sanchez if any offer comes in, so we can't just sell half our front 6. Add to that, the club isn't sure about Pogba's future and the ruckus he might create. People keep harping about Gomes, but he isn't good enough yet. Chong isn't physically ready to make 30 odd appearances yet for us, atleast based on his limited appearances in senior football. Greenwood is, but they aren't competing for the same position. No one knows how good James will be, and Lingard isn't a mature enough player.
Now, I hope it's not a 3 year deal, but in case it's a 1+1 year contract, it's an understandable action taken by the club

No, it doesn't make complete sense and i don't really understand what Pogba, Sanchez and Lukaku have to do with it. The only good reason i can think of is that Ole has a different role for Mata in his mind, to use him more a SS than as a play-maker in a system that favours two men up front. But then again he talks about him as a creative force so i'm not really sure about that.

Anyway, Lukaku is a forward. He'll be on his way presumably because the manager favours Rashford for this particular role. Pogba was used mainly as a play-maker from a deeper position/b2b amalgam by Solskjaer. Mata can't possibly take on such a role, especially in the PL. Sanchez is at his best when he's utilized in a role that allows him to play near the edge of the box and close to the main forward so that he can end moves either by shooting or providing the final pass. I don't believe that anybody is expecting him to start pulling trees anymore. That's why Martial will probably be the first choice for that role.

That leaves us the third role in our attack, the one of the main orchestrator in the final third. It is a role that, sadly, Mata has failed to make his since 2013 when he arrived at the club. Furthermore, it is a role that is filled by Lingard who is a very patchy player at best and he's not going anywhere any time soon. So, with Mata getting an extension, it looks like the club actually believes that with these two we'll be fine for a couple of more seasons. And with this notion i can certainly not agree.

 

[Acquire Me]

I am happy to see Mata stay. I like him and I know that his a important character for our club. Lovely news.

 

[sullydnl]

Next summer: "we can't sell Jones, Young, Smalling, and Mata all at once. It's unrealistic to get rid of this many players in one window."

Aye, we probably can't.

It's not like the club have been shy about saying this, the manager outright said we're looking at a rebuild that will take years. Which means that getting rid of all the players we don't like will take years too

Look at Liverpool. They've built themselves up to the point where they've won the CL and narrowly missed out on the league, yet they still have some players in their squad (Mignolet, Lovren, Moreno, Sturridge, etc.) who many of their fans wanted sold years ago too. You literally can't get rid of them all.

 

[LoneStar]

Not really happy with this, but I guess it makes sense with so many players rumoured to leave.

As long as it doesn't stop us from buying players, it's fine.

 

[Kaglish10]

Aye, we probably can't.

It's not like the club have been shy about saying this, the manager outright said we're looking at a rebuild that will take years. Which means that getting rid of all the players we don't like will take years too

Look at Liverpool. They've built themselves up to the point where they've won the CL and narrowly missed out on the league, yet they still have some players in their squad (Mignolet, Lovren, Moreno, Sturridge, etc.) who many of their fans wanted sold years ago too. You literally can't get rid of them all.

The point is Mata is an ageing player. Not just that, we already have Lingard who offers the same attributes as Mata. This is really baffling.

 

[C'est Moi Cantona]

Maybe should have buried news this on the back a decent signing, it's not Mata's fault, but hardly what we want to hear just now.

 

[fps]

Play him at 10 otherwise whats the point of playing him? Completely wasted his prime at united.

This 100%. A fine, fine player, played completely out of position on a regular basis by a club who haven't even tried to use him properly.

 

[Keeps It tidy]

If we do not sign another winger be prepared for Mata or Lingard as first choice RW at the start of the season.

 

[bosnian_red]

Right, so lets accept we play Gomes ahead of Mata this season and the team is better for it. All fine.

Selling Mata still doesn't gain us anything. We don't need to sell him to play others ahead of him, as evidenced by the fact that he hasn't been a first choice player at all under Ole. Meanwhile we have a 60 game season ahead and are short on bodies. So why get rid? You'd just be removing him from the squad to no end.

150k a week. Fewer minutes for youth, potential to lose out on them because they arent getting minutes. The point is we remove him from the squad and replace with Angel Gomes to get the squad minutes, with the potential there to have a homegrown product (on very low wages) to grow and improve and who knows how good he can be.

 

[Yagami]

This is disappointing.

If Ole is serious about getting us playing progressive, high intensity and high pressing football then renewing the likes of Mata, Young and Jones is just daft. All 3 aren't good enough and need selling. Even if it means them leaving on a free.

 

[Keeps It tidy]

This 100%. A fine, fine player, played completely out of position on a regular basis by a club who haven't even tried to use him properly.

He would not even be good as a #10 at this point.

 

[R'hllor]

why changing winning formula.

 

[sullydnl]

The point is Mata is an ageing player. Not just that, we already have Lingard who offers the same attributes as Mata. This is really baffling.

Two thoughts on that:

1) For "ageing" you could also say experienced. At a time when we seem to be lowering the average age of the squad anyway by targeting young players, it might be that the club see that as a positive. Especially given that Mata is one of the increasingly few players remaining in our squad who has won the biggest trophies. You do need some elder figures in a squad to set the tone in the dressing room and realistically Mata is as good as we've got in terms of professionalism.

2) The more important point (I suspect) is that if you're prioritising who to sell, it may make sense to get rid of players you will actually recieve a fee for first. After all, if you're planning on selling a player anyway then his youth only matters in terms of his value. So (just as a random made up example) if you were prioritising between losing and replacing Mata or losing and replacing Bailly, it may well make sense to opt to replace Bailly first as you will get an actual fee to put towards his replacement, or perhaps be able to include him as part of a transfer for another player. Whereas Mata is essentially worthless in a market sense, so there's less gain in selling him first.

 

[RedDevilUnited369]

Mata will get us important goals this coming season. I expect him to be a squad player. But an experienced squad player is all good with me.

Injuries will hit.

 

[sullydnl]

150k a week. Fewer minutes for youth, potential to lose out on them because they arent getting minutes. The point is we remove him from the squad and replace with Angel Gomes to get the squad minutes, with the potential there to have a homegrown product (on very low wages) to grow and improve and who knows how good he can be.

As I think Duffer said earlier, we're facing a 60-odd game slog of a season. Not having enough bodies in the squad is more likely to be a problem than having too many.

Besides, the above assumes that Gomes would be a better option than Mata but our manager and all our coaches fundamentally won't be able to see that and would keep playing Mata ahead of him anyway. At which point we hope we lose Mata just so they're forced to play the better option. In which case the big issue isn't Mata's presence, it's the quality of our manager and coaching team.

 

[El Jefe]

What good is experience if you're shite. Young was our worst performer in the run in and Valencia was probably the worst player all season seeing as Jose nor Ole trusted him at all.

Its clear no top side really cared for Mata's services because if they were I'm sure he would have got much more money and a longer contract possibly.

Mata has zilch to offer this side and it will be clear as day watching him in the Carabao and EL next season.

 

[sullydnl]

What good is experience if you're shite. Young was our worst performer in the run in and Valencia was probably the worst player all season seeing as Jose nor Ole trusted him at all.

Its clear no top side really cared for Mata's services because if they were I'm sure he would have got much more money and a longer contract possibly.

Mata has zilch to offer this side and it will be clear as day watching him in the Carabao and EL next season.

The question isn't whether we should get rid of a shite player, it's which shite player we should get rid of first given we can't get rid of them all right now. That's where Mata's experience, professionalism and lack of value in the transfer market counts in his favour.

Put it this way: imagine you're Solskjaer, you're given a list of all the crap players in the squad and you're told you have to keep a few of them for the next couple of years. It might well be that of all those crap players Mata is one of the ones it benefits you least to lose right away. That sort of decision is the reality of rebuilding a side and the reality of the shit position we've got ourselves into.

 

[el3mel]

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It's really 3 years. Unbelievable stuff!!

 

[Kaglish10]

We're really mug. I doubt anything will improve next season. I give up.

 

[Mibabalou]

Three year deal feck me were clueless

 

[passing-wind]

Absolutely disgusting

 

[MyOnlySolskjaer]

Better than Lingard I guess.

 

[el3mel]

If we want to extend his contract give him a fecking 1 year, or 1+1 or something.

3 fecking years. We're the worst big club in terms of managing the team.