Juan Mata reveals family urged him to LEAVE Man United after Jose Mourinho's appointment, fearing a repeat of Chelsea fallout
The Spaniard joined the Red Devils from Chelsea in January 2014 for a then-club record fee of £37.1million.
He had spent two-and-a-half seasons in west London and won the Champions League FA Cup and Europa League.
Mata was forced out of Chelsea after falling out of favour under Mourinho, and joined United in pursuit of more playing time.
However, after playing under David Moyes and Louis van Gaal at United, Mourinho was appointed in 2016 - leaving doubts over Mata's place in the side.
The midfielder has revealed that his grandad advised him to leave the club as he was concerned the Portuguese boss would freeze him out again.
Speaking on the Fozcast podcast, Mata said: 'The first call that I received was from my family and from my granddad saying, "You have to leave. What's going to happen?"
And I said, "No, I'm going to see how it goes. I don't have any problem with him, and he doesn't have any problems with me."
'It is one of the things that I'm most proud of in my career is to have remained, to be calm and say, "No, I'm going to try to show that I can play in his style." And I did so. Our relationship was very natural. Actually, we have a good relationship.
'I played games and we won things together. I played in all the finals, so I felt like an important player in his squad. My family told me, 'Okay, you were right,' but they were panicking a little bit.'
Mata ultimately decided to disregard the advice from his grandad and remain, determined to fight for his place in the team.
He played 285 times for the club over eight years, winning the Europa League, FA Cup and League cup.
Mata departed United in June 2022 and later that year signed for Turkish Super Lig club Galatasaray as a free agent. In 2023, he had a short stint with Japanese side Vissel Kobe, making just a single appearance for the team.
The 37-year-old is currently playing for Australian side Western Sydney Wanderers, having signed with the club in September 2024.
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Daily Mirror
12 minutes ago
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BBC News
12 minutes ago
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The Guardian
2 hours ago
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Euro 2025: our writers hand out their awards from the tournament
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Ultimately it was a match that saw Germany doggedly progress despite playing 107 minutes of the game with 10 players. It was a remarkable knockout tie. Tom Garry Sweden 2-2 England. That game had just about everything. The prospect of an England comeback felt almost impossible approaching the 80th minute, but within a matter of seconds you just knew that they were going to do it. The drama! Emillia Hawkins Sweden 2-2 England. Everyone will remember the stirring England comeback and the dramatic penalty shootout but this is a game that also deserves to be remembered for Sweden's devastating opening burst, a standard of pulsating attacking football that stands with any produced at this tournament. Jonathan Liew France v Germany. This game had everything. A red card, a penalty, resolute German defending, THAT Ann-Katrin Berger save and a penalty shootout. The fact Germany were the first team at a women's Euros to progress after going down to 10 players showed just how hard they worked. Berger also put in some great saves during the shootout – goalkeeper of the tournament for me. Sarah Rendell It has to be the final doesn't it? England's rollercoaster ride of a tournament concluded in a thrilling showpiece between magical world champions Spain and the Euro holders. It was the final everyone wanted and it delivered. England were battlers, tactically astute and disciplined, Spain were Spain, master technicians on the ball. Suzanne Wrack Hannah Hampton was little known to the wider public a month ago and had replaced a national treasure in Mary Earps between the posts. She left Switzerland having earned the same status by producing exceptional performances of which multiple penalty saves were only part. Calm, composed on the ball and with cat-like reflexes, Hampton deserves every credit. NA Michelle Agyemang. What a player. The 19-year-old was given an opportunity and seized it with both hands. The way she impacted games caught the eye but equally the way she came on in high pressure situations and handled them without panic. Will surely be a star for England for years to come. SD Chloe Kelly made a gamechanging impact in all three of England's knockout ties and therefore has to win this, in my eyes, although the best technical footballer was Aitana Bonmatí. Kelly came up clutch in the big moments, whether it was with her two lethal crosses to create England's two quickfire goals in their comeback against Sweden, or her lively performance and late winner against Italy, or her assist for England's equaliser in the final followed by her nerveless, title-clinching penalty. TG Aitana Bonmatí. It's crazy to think that she was hospitalised with viral meningitis just days before Euro 2025 started. Another great tournament for the midfielder despite the penalty miss at the end. EH Patri Guijarro has been the standout player for Spain at this tournament, the one who makes everything work: absorbing pressure, providing an outlet in buildup, creating space, creating angles and snuffing out counterattacks. JL Honourable mentions must go to Klara Bühl and Iman Beney who were incredible but for me it has to be Lucy Bronze. The defender started every game and played 598 minutes for England in total and the performances, particularly her leadership and skill against Sweden, were crucial to the Lionesses retaining the trophy. The fact she did all that with a fractured tibia is unbelievable and she once again lived up to one of her middle names: 'Tough'. SR Aitana Bonmatí may have scooped player of the tournament but, for me, it was her midfield companion Patri Guijarro that deserves all the plaudits. She became the second player on record, since the 2011 World Cup, to have completed 100-plus passes and won possession more than 10 times in a knockout stage game at a major tournament – after the Denmark great Katrine Pedersen. SW We can quibble over Ann-Katrin Berger's positioning all we like, but for sheer did-she-really-try-that at such a knife-edge point in Spain's semi-final against Germany, the winner from Aitana Bonmatí stands above them all. NA Cristiana Girelli's wonder strike against Portugal. The 35-year-old always delivers for Italy and did so in spectacular fashion on this occasion. SD Clàudia Pina's curler into the top corner against Belgium takes this for me, although her near-identical finish against Switzerland in the quarter-final was almost equally worthy. We should also throw more praise at Vivianne Miedema's strike against Wales and Lauren James' superb first-half goal against the Netherlands. TG Lauren James v Netherlands. Not necessarily just because of the strike – which was great in itself – but also because of the buildup. That long pass from Hannah Hampton through to Alessia Russo in attack was absolutely exquisite. EH Vivianne Miedema v Wales. Not just the screaming finish into the top corner from distance, but the quick feet and clever body feints to create the space for herself. JL Clàudia Pina had a fine tournament and her goal against Belgium was an absolute stunner. It was similar to the rocket she scored against Chelsea in the Champions League semi-final. A sensational strike from outside the box. SR There may have been prettier goals this tournament but the context of Michelle Agyemang's equaliser against Italy made it all the more remarkable. At just 19 years old, with less than a minute left of added time and with England 1-0 down and facing an exit from the tournament, the coolness with which the Arsenal forward scored through the legs of both a defender and the keeper was stunning. The celebrations also birthed one of the photos of the tournament, Girls on the Ball's Rachel O'Sullivan's renaissance-painting-esque shot capturing the celebrations of the bench and players' families. SW I loved being present in Geneva, where the best and loudest atmospheres materialised, for Switzerland's dramatic draw with Finland. The roof blew off when Riola Xhemaili equalised, sending the hosts through to the last eight, and it felt like a genuinely transformational moment in the country's relationship with women's football. NA Obviously, England lifting the trophy but I feel incredibly lucky to get to work major tournaments with some of the best in the business. The way we all pulled together to help each other this last month is what it is all about. SD When Riola Xhemaili scored a 92nd-minute goal to send Switzerland into the knockout stages, I was watching the action on a screen that evidently had around a 10-second delay compared to other televisions, and therefore hearing the roar – before actually seeing the goal myself – of noise and cheers echoing all around the streets of Zurich, as an entire city was glued to the game and celebrating joyously, was a sound I'll never forget. That was the moment I fully appreciated how emotionally-invested the host nation had become into their women's football team, which was really heartening. TG Michelle Agyemang's goal v Italy. From the verge of heartbreak to absolute ecstasy. The fact a 19-year-old kept England's hopes alive on just her fourth appearance for the senior team, four years after she was a ball girl, is incredible. EH Getting recognised by Ellen White's husband at half-time during the final. Happy to report Ellen and Callum are both avid Guardian readers. JL Michelle Agyemang became a star overnight with her equaliser against Sweden but the fact she did it again against Italy was quite something. The roar when she was shown on the big screen getting ready to come on in the final shows what she already means to England fans. A special summer for a special player. SR The interaction with the players. Many of them know that some of us have been on this journey with them for a very long time. It's been an incredible privilege to tell their stories and this tournament had stories in abundance. The jokes, the looks, the interviews. They are a very likeable group. SW Resource and attention need to be concentrated on countries that risk being left behind. England, Germany, France and Spain – for all their specific local issues – are going to be just fine. It is time to make sure clubs and national teams outside the leading pack are equipped to develop in both sporting and economic terms: 'The head must not leave the body', as a number of top Uefa executives are fond of saying. NA Just more of everything. More investment, more coverage, more fans, more viewership. The sky is the limit at the moment. SD The next Euros in 2029 needs to feature larger stadiums to try to surpass a million spectators, and there are some strong contenders with Germany, Italy, Poland, Portugal and a joint Denmark-Sweden bid all in the running. In England, the challenge now has to be to improve the grassroots facilities for girls and women across the country and make sure the huge influx of young girls who have taken up the sport in the past few years can be retained within the sport into their teenage years and adult lives, for a long-lasting legacy. Lastly, the Women's Super League needs to capitalise on the national team's success by reversing last season's decline in average attendances. TG It's been fantastic to see how Switzerland as a nation has embraced women's football this summer. Hopefully we see the same with other nations. Given the success of the Lionesses once again this year it would also be great to see a steady increase in TV viewing figures and attendances across England. EH This is a thornier question than it appears. Huge levels of interest at big events do not necessarily translate to mass appeal at domestic or grassroots level. But as long as the funding is there (and fairly distributed), and as long as the institutional will to grow the game remains (looking at you, Jim Ratcliffe and Daniel Levy), we can anticipate another few years of cautious, optimistic growth. JL Hopefully this Euros win will see attendances in the WSL rise again and for other leagues across Europe to reap the same reward with most teams impressing one way or another at the tournament. But the next step now is to focus on and celebrate the football and the players. This Euros win for the Lionesses felt like it was all about the football rather than having to prove something to others. SR The sky's the limit. The impact of the win in 2022 was evident in the support for England this time round. That will be elevated again. This team has changed the face of women's football and society for the better. Their platform is bigger than ever and there can be little doubt that they will take full advantage of that increased authority to challenge things and fight for more for women and girls. SW
