It has been officially reported that Valencia have reached an agreement in principle to sell Juan Mata to Chelsea. Reports suggest that Mata will be joining Chelsea for a fee of £23.5m after going through a medical. This is Andre Villas-Boas' first big signing that will impact the current Chelsea team immediately (i.e. Mata is a finished product, unlike the young players that Chelsea have signed thus far).
Mata has been described by many football pundits as a quick, skillful and creative player and will be an exciting addition to the Chelsea squad which is lacking numbers in the midfield. With this imminent signing in mind, I decided to do some research on Juan Mata and here is what I have to report.
“For a kid that just played for Oviedo, to then going to play for a team like Real Madrid it felt fantastic. But being taken out of my family home and moving away alone, into the residence Madrid have for young players, it was a bit difficult but as time passed I got used to it.” (Source)
“It didn’t hurt leaving Madrid – it’s normal. There are a lot of people in Real Madrid squad, and in most great teams, but they can’t all make it…. At 19 when I left I wanted to demonstrate the ability I had and fulfill the hopes that Valencia had in me when they signed me,” he reflects.
“What’s marked about him,” Spanish football expert Graham Hunter says of Juan Mata in a radio interview, “is that he’s a big game player and loves the challenge, the test. [He is] not somebody who will shrink away from playing in big matches every three days.”
All in all, Mata will be a great asset to Chelsea's attack. He will offer creativity that Chelsea lacked last season and will help undress some of the stubborn defense that Chelsea will face during this long season. Additionally, he is still a young player at 23 and Chelsea can reap the reward of the signing for years to come. And for all the English sports writers worldwide, he will offer plenty puns on Mata/Matter wordplay, as in "he can score goals Juan it Mata(s)." Oh dear...
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