Against Brentford, United midfielder Juan Mata finally had his first premier league start of the season, and he repaid Ralph Lonnick's trust with his outstanding performances, helping the team to win a long-lost victory. Mata's eight and a half seasons at Manchester United definitely deserve better treatment.
In Chelsea's time, Juan Mata was the absolute core of the team; in the 2011-12 season, as one of the few new generations in the team, he supported the team's attacking line, delivering 12 goals and 20 assists in 54 games. In the Champions League final, Drogba scored a corner kick that was scored by Mata. To say that Mata was the hero of Chelsea's first Champions League title is certainly not an exaggeration. In 2012-13, Mata created even more terrifying attacking statistics, playing 64 games for Chelsea, handing over a report card of 19 goals and 35 assists, and it is reasonable to say that he was the premier attacking genius in Europe at the time.
In the summer of 2014, he moved to Manchester United for £37.1m for not being reused by Jose Mourinho, becoming Moyes' second transfer acquisition. Under Moyes and Van Gaal, Mata has had a lot of opportunities, but his importance in the team is not the same as in the Chelsea era, he is at best a role player, no longer an indispensable core; Manchester United have no intention of forming a team around him. Unfortunately, in 2016 he met Mourinho, who had abandoned him, which made Mata take another step back into a rotational role, although there were occasional good games on the court, but the playing time was not enough for him to prove himself.
After Solskjaer took on the squad, Mata had fewer chances; Ole Gunnar Solskjaer valued the talented midfielder Bruno Fernandez, who has been reduced to a big substitute who can only play in cup matches. However, the Spaniard never complained and told the media that Manchester United was not, but quietly worked hard and handed over the results in the only playing time.
In fact, with Mata's performance and attitude on the field, he is really more worthy of the opportunity to play than Rashford, Pogba and so on. Unfortunately, this thousand-mile horse did not meet its own Bole in Old Trafford after all, and these eight years, although it is not a waste of time, but it is also a bit of a sense of time.
I believe that the Spanish midfielder will leave this summer (and see that he has parted ways with Manchester United fans), and hope that he can find more opportunities to play in other arenas and prove that he is still not old.