Does Mata matter?

It looks like Juan Mata is set to join David Moyes’ Manchester United for a fee around £37m, breaking United’s transfer record of just over £30m that they paid to acquire Dimitar Berbatov from Tottenham. But the big question remains – can he have the desired impact at United?

There’s no doubt about it; Juan Mata is a quality player. He’s proved that throughout his time at both Valencia and Chelsea, who seem to have already agreed a deal to replace him, with the imminent arrival of Egyptian winger Mohamed Salah from everyone’s favourite Swiss side, FC Basel. For whatever reason, Mata wasn’t a Mourinho type player. He’s never been one to play the intricate one touch game that we’ve seen at Barcelona, Arsenal, Swansea and so on, and perhaps he feels that Mata fits that mould. But why Manchester United? It’s been heavily suggested in the media that Moyes needs a big name signing to make the fans believe again, so it seems to me that Moyes has bowed to media pressure and dipped into the transfer market to sign the Spaniard. But it doesn’t end there. We saw the style of play that he started to implement at Everton, with a lovely flowing passing game, most notably down the left with Baines and Pienaar; a style of play maintained under Roberto Martinez. Obviously Manchester United is a bigger club, a much more successful club, and the fans expect immediate success because that’s what they are used to and have been for such a long time under Sir Alex Ferguson, but it’s a new era. Look at Brendan Rodgers at Liverpool. He’s tried to take the style of play that reaped many rewards for him at Swansea and get Liverpool playing the same way. It has taken time, and he’s had to bring in his own players – the majority of which he has worked with previously – to make his philosophy effective, which it has done. Moyes has so far only made one transfer, Marouane Fellaini – a player he has previously worked with – to try and replicate his style of play at Everton. 

Vogue.

Mata is like Man Utd’s Coutinho, except better. Coutinho was a relative gamble, having not made the grade at Inter Milan and having never before played in the Premier League. The question was asked whether or not he could cut it in England. He has shown flashes of brilliance, and fits the mould that Brendan Rodgers was looking for. Mata on the other hand has already proved he can cut it in the Premier League, and therefore isn’t a gamble in that respect. United are paying about 4 times what Liverpool paid for Coutinho on a bigger name, hoping it will save their season. It’s another safe signing for me, a player that is comfortable playing in the Premier League. He’ll definitely help short term, there’s no doubt about that, he’s a quality player. But for me, Moyes has to take a risk in the summer, and buy a player with no Premier League experience and make him a star. That’s when he’ll prove his critics wrong.