Juan Mata won almost everything, then Mourinho showed him the door
In his first two seasons at Chelsea, Juan Mata helped win the Champions League, the FA Cup and the Europa League, and fans voted him player of the year. Months later José Mourinho returned as manager, the playmaker fell out of favour, and Chelsea sold him to Manchester United for 37.1 million pounds.
Mata was born in Burgos in 1988 but grew up in Oviedo, his father's home town; his father, also called Juan Manuel, had been a forward and later became his FIFA-registered agent. After starting at Real Oviedo he joined Real Madrid's academy at 15 and scored nine goals for their reserve side in a season that ended in relegation. A release clause let him leave for Valencia in 2007.
At Valencia he flourished almost at once. As a teenager he scored twice against Barcelona in a cup semi-final and opened the scoring in the final, then finished one season with 13 assists, second only to Xavi in the league. Fernando Torres helped talk him into Chelsea in 2011, and Yossi Benayoun handed over his favourite number 10 shirt.
The first season read like a highlight reel. He scored on his debut in stoppage time, crossed for the club's 6,000th league goal and was man of the match in the FA Cup final. In the Champions League final against Bayern Munich he delivered the corner for Didier Drogba's late equaliser, then had his own shootout kick saved by Manuel Neuer before Chelsea won anyway.
With Spain he collected a World Cup winner's medal in 2010, having scored the goal against Estonia that secured qualification, and came off the bench in the Euro 2012 final to score the fourth goal against Italy. He was also named the best player as Spain won the 2011 under-21 European Championship. After nine seasons and 285 games at United, he joined Galatasaray in 2022 and finally won a league title, the first of his career.
Source: Juan Mata
