'My family told me to quit Man Utd immediately due to manager change - I'm glad I didn't'
Former Manchester United star Juan Mata has revealed how his family urged him to quit the club after Jose Mourinho was appointed as manager. The Spaniard joined United from Chelsea in January 2014 for a then-club record fee of £37.1million.
The midfielder enjoyed two successful seasons at Stamford Bridge before his departure, winning the Champions League, FA Cup and Europa League. However, he later fell out of favour at Chelsea under Mourinho's stewardship and signed for United in pursuit of more playing time.
Mata soon became a popular figure at Old Trafford under David Moyes, but the man who brought him there was sacked just a few months later. He played under several managers during his seven-and-a-half year spell with the Red Devils, including Dutchman Louis Van Gaal and club legend Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
But it was the arrival of Mata's former Chelsea boss Mourinho in May 2016 which left his family worried. He has now opened up on how his grandad encouraged him to leave United amid fears the Portuguese coach would freeze him out again.
Mata ultimately chose to ignore the advice and stay to fight for his place in the team. He went on to make 285 appearances for the club and has told former United goalkeeper Ben Foster that he feels pride over deciding to stick to his guns after Mourinho joined.
Speaking on the Fozcast podcast, he 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 left United in June 2022 and went on to join Turkish Super Lig team Galatasaray as a free agent later that year. He also had a brief spell with Japanese side Vissel Kobe in 2023, but only made one appearance for the club.
He currently plays for Australian outfit Western Sydney Wanderers, who he signed for in September last year. Mata said he was enjoying his time Down Under after praising both the quality of living in Sydney and the growth of the A-League.
"It's amazing and the lifestyle is incredible," he said. "The city has everything. It's like being in five different cities in one, because you have the CBD (central business district), and all the big buildings. Then you have a nice beach five minutes away.
"The league is growing and football, or soccer as they call it, is coming back to where it used to be a couple of years ago. They suffered a lot with Covid in the sport, but they're coming back, and it's a great place to be."
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