My thoughts go back to the 27th August of 2011, the day the Premier League got graced by the magic of a diminutive wizard, a small man with the ability to perform magic tricks out of nowhere. That man went by the name of Juan Manuel Mata. When Chelsea announced that they had struck a deal with Valencia for the tiny man, people were happy, but didn’t have the slightest clue as to what a talent we had got in our hands. Juan Mata made his Chelsea debut as a substitute in a game against Norwich, scoring on his debut. And boy oh boy, he never stopped to look back ever since. Time after time he proved to everyone that he can only get better and better. This was the man which made a below average Chelsea team look decent (No offence intended to our other players). And how can you forget the two corners from his foot that won us the two European trophies, the Champions League as well as the Europa League. Would any of this been possible without this particular man? The answer is quite obvious, no!
Fast forward to today. The idea of Juan Mata joining our arch rivals Man Utd was already messing my head. So much to the extent that I even forgot that we were losing one of my favorite players to AC Milan, Michael Essien. I loved Essien, and it’s not just because of his goals or anything, I loved him because of his passion towards the club, and I somehow phased over his departure just because someone more important was about to move to a team that I hated from the depths of my heart. As I woke up the first thing I did was check the official website of Chelsea to check whether there any reports that the move had fallen off. I was hoping to see Jose pull the plug, Mata refusing the move, Man Utd distancing themselves or even the most desperate case of Mata failing the medicals. But to my dismay Chelsea Football club had announced that they had agreed for the move to go on and Mata could be a United player within no time. I just wanted to go back to sleep, hoping to wake up and pretend that this never happened.
For me Juan Mata was more important to the club than the likes of Eden Hazard and Oscar, for whom the whole Chelsea family have high regards for. I am of the view that Eden will ofcourse leave us sooner or later, Real Madrid perhaps. Oscar has the same thing written all over him. Juan was my hope of having a player of the stature that Frankie and John has at the club. So it was far more important to me unlike the others. Don’t get me wrong, I love Eden and Oscar, not as much as Juan though. I completely dedicate our two European trophies to the efforts of this Spanish wizard, who was totally forgotten under the shadow of Didier Drogba and Petr Cech for the Champions League glory and Fernando Torres for the Europa League trophy.
There are talks going around claiming that Jose allowed this transfer just because he wanted Man Utd to scrape points off Arsenal and City. Utter rubbish! Jose is not a man who will keep such short term goals. What about the next season? Juan will be there even then, along with the formidable duo of Wayne and Robin Van Persie. It’s plain crazy to think so. Man Utd has a weak team this term, that’s no secret, but they are Man Utd, any chance you give them and they WILL come and bite you in your ass! Mata is such a chance that we have given them!
And as a message to Juan Mata from me, we all know that you know how much we loved and adored you. We understand your desire to leave, considering the manager didn’t have much trust in you. The only regret is why did you choose our rival? Maybe they gave you the best offer, ofcourse more than doubling your wages is quite enough of a reason. We understand that your main aim is to play for Spain in the World Cup, and a move was a need of the hour for you. We do NOT hate you! No, we can’t even think about hating you, but we can’t wish you the best either, at the moment. We will certainly thank you foreverything that you have done for us though! And this is no mere formality. We totally acknowledge whatever you have done for us in the short journey we took together. And someday when you will wear the Red of Manchester United against the Blue of Chelsea, I hope the story will continue a little more and we continue to share the bond that we already have! Till the day you decide to move abroad, a move that will remove every restrictions we put on our affection for you right now!
Thank You Juan Mata! In the words of Andre Schurrle, be Happy! 😉
And yeah, Michael Essien, hope you rock the Serie A as the rock in the midfield you used to be! We would love to see you cause riots in the colors of Red and Black under the legacy of Seedorf!
Thank you for taking your time to read this article! I hope this is certainly how most of us feel at the very moment. Do leave your thoughts and views in the comments section below. i would love to hear your thoughts on this!
Readers, do leave your thank you notes to @JuanMata10 and @MichaelEssien
Follow on twitter: @TusharL7
PS: I really wanted to use some really good picture for the article as a tribute to Juan, but couldn’t go ahead with it. So finally decided to stick with two old images that I had edited for Juan! Hope you like it! 🙂
Mate you are totally right, usually I like your articles!
true Mata was our main player and he held Chelsea on his shoulders for long months…but I felt shameful how we let him go this way! he left as a player who didnt like what happened not as a player who left with pride…maybe his style doesnt suitable mourinho’s phylosophy as he wants wide playmakers ! but mata could have changed since he’s young :/ I wanted him to do anything but leaving and leaving sad fans behind 🙁 still though we are all chelsea fans not a player fan and we live all our life for the team’s love
This story is giving me a headache. Anyway why do you thing think Eden or Oscar will leave the club? Say whatever you want but Eden Hazard is and probably will remain the most important Chelsea player. Hopefully he will remain blue for long time as he said. Yeah thank you Juan Mata for everything but I’m afraid I can’t wish a Manchester United player the best. I’m sorry…hope the good memory shadow the bad experience you got recently. And talk positive stuff to award Chelsea family otherwise Most of blues will be done with u lad
I still don’t believe that we can sell a quality player like Mata to Utd of all club.Just like u have pointed out,the likes of Hazard and Oscar will eventually leave us one day,especially Hazard who already Idolized Zidane!I don’t even like the way Mou treated him in the first place.Just want to wish him the best of luck at Old Trafford.I’ll always love him even if he score against us in the future!ktbbffh.
I am really devastated about Mata’s departure, it’s even worse than a break up with a long time girlfriend. It’s so bad that i had a dream last night interviewing Mata Senior and questioning why he should allow Mata junior to leave. I am really heart broken and don’t know how to get over this Mata issue, it pains me more that he is going to Man Utd. The club i hate the most!!! Only time will heal my hurt, i had to delete Mata from my twitter account yesterday, that move was necessary for me. I can keep on going about this but i just want to say thank you Mata for everything you did for cfc but why choose Man utd???????????????
I feel you brother, Mata was supposed to be the player that would become our Zola25, our Wise, but i guess Mourinho had other plans. As Mourinho has persistently said, he is here to stay so i guess he doesn’t see him in our future. It’s painfully that he is leaving, even more so that he is leaving for devil sc*@m, and i also can’t believe that mourinho sold him to them. Atleast get rooney in return because now they have a very deadly trio#Mata, Januzaj, Rooney and i haven’t even put Van Persie who on his day can be just as if not deadlier than the other three. Anyway it’s good that someone feels the same way about this transfer.Thanks mate, BLUE IS THE COLOUR!!!
I’ll join you on saying goodbye, and I’ll even wish him well at United, since it does not clash with Chelsea objectives. But I can’t agree with you when you say that we understand that Juan main goal is to play the WC for Spain. I see that playing a WC is child’s dream for every player, but a professional footballer main objective have to be to help his club (and if he’s playing well he’ll be selected to national side), play well for his club to aim to the National Team, not the other way around. As a Chelsea fan, and as much as I love Mata, I can’t “understand” that he put his personal goals ahead of Chelsea’s, it’s not the way I see football. And, to round it all, he ACCEPTED to play for Man United, it’s not “Chelsea’s fault” only, the player as responsability as his desire to leave was so great that he accepted joyfully joining a CFC rival.
And I can’t understand why you see Eden or Oscar leaving the team, I believe that if the club stay stable and competitive, they’ll never have the desire to leave. They arrived younger to the club, and they’re learning quick the club culture and mistic… I believe that they’ll be some of our future legends.
As sad as it may seem, I’m not to frustrated about that, mainly for two reasons. One of them, all the noise the last few days about Juan, made me feel deeply that the best solution for all the parts was for him to leave the club. The second reason is that the transfer money will help us meet the financial requirements to new legislation that is just around the corner, and buying a promising substitute for just 15 M£ give us plently of room to meet the demands. I truly believe, though we’ll miss him, that the team won’t get weaker with this departure, and the team always comes first. KTBFFH!!!
Its touuching. I totally agree with the article. Eden is leaving chelsea, it is inevitable. If not this summer, then nxt summer. I. Know dis cos from his 1st season, he has been constantly linked with other clubs. Benteke even said hazard told him it was his dream to play for madrid. Hazard is using chelsea as a learning curve like ronaldo in manchester. U cannot truly expect hazard to continue to stay in chelsea. Mata is a gem. Ktbffh. But I’m happy to see that chelsea is Progressing.
I read this article with tears,a heavy heart and a deep sense of loss.I really do not know how to express my emotions rightnow.it is so so hardto say goodbye to this fantastic footballer and total gentleman called juan manuel mata.Chelsea management and mou has done us wrong.a lot of wrong by not playing this fine footballer regularly.
Like it or not,he was a true blue legend and played heart and soul for chelsea!!.No man can claim to love his club more than his country hence he is totally justified to leave us for first team football which I can not understand why mou refused to give him.
It is hard to say Goodbye but Juan Mata,you gave me,you gave us,Chelsea fans 2 unforgettable european success in peace.WE LOVE YOUUUU!!! AND WE WILL MISS YOU SORELY!!!.FARE THE WELL.
The Legend that is JUAN MATA.
First Game, Debut Goal what better way to announce yourself to the Stamford Bridge faithfuls.
Andre Villas Boas had a clear idea on how he expect his team to play but he never did change his playing personnels to affect such drastic changes. Selling Anelka and Alex without adequate replacement didn’t help his era and the lack of use Lukaku showed our clueless he was. He bit the dust when he marginised the Legends, Didier, John and Frank.
We never expected such inbalance team to fight for any title. We were all wrong we did a double- UCL and FA Cup and Juan Mata was a integral part of that success.
Cech, Turnbull and Hilario.
Cole, Bertrand, Terry, Luiz, Ivanovic, Bosingwa and Cahill.
Mikel, Romeu, Ramires, Meireles, Lampard, Mata, Malouda.
Kalou, Sturridge, Torres, Drogba.
We never thought this squad could win anything. They did the mission impossible.
Mata- Player of the season ahead of Drogba.
2012-2013
Drogba left a big void, Sturridge, Meireles was sold, Bosingwa, Malouda, Kalou all gone Lukaku on loan- Leaving only Torres to lead our lines. The purchase of Hazard, Marin, Oscar and Moses ensured we were headed for another path of footballing style.
What do u expect from a squad like this
Cech, Turnbull and Hilario.
Terry, Luiz, Cahill, Ivanovic, Cole, Bertrand and Azpilicueta.
Romeu(injured for most of the season), Mikel, Lampard, Ramires, Ake and Benayoun(half season)
Mata, Hazard, Oscar, Moses, Marin(wasn’t used).
Torres, Ba(Jan)
This squad was too thin- we cudnt launch a title fight- Mata was the beacon of hope- Oscar and Hazard didn’t come to the party most times(Nobody is saying they r lady players)
Mata- Fans player of year after 19 goals and 34 assists with an unlikely EL triumph. Mata gave is all- he played 61 games because we needed him.
He has a bad patch in 2013/2014 n a coach that isn’t willing to give him a fair fighting chance. If a player doesn’t play he can’t fit into a coaches pattern- Always too eager to sub Juan when he knows the whole team aint playing well- Didn’t he even start him in any big games, only came on against Spurs to register d assist for John’s equaliser.
Juan was marginlised and he needed to leave to do what he does best. Jose in his wisdom sold him to Man Utd that refuse to sell Wayne to us even when it looked like wayne wanted to move. Juan didn’t write a transfer request and he didn’t talk badly abt us or even Jose.
Juan, I wish the best. Only One Juan Mata, Magician, Chelsea Legend.
sad mata is leaving,i want to thank him 4 his contribution and wish him well but not against chelsea.i also thank essien
mou has an idea what he wants and i think we should back him.were’ve struggled to make top 4,but now we are near d top.
He was immense during his time at the bridge i wish Mata and Essien all the very best in their careers. Well written article, these guys gave everything for cfc for the past and glorifiserer years. Indeed they will forever Romania in our memories. Goodluck!!!!!!
He was immense during his time at Stamford bridge i wish Mata and Essien all the very best in their careers. Well written article, these guys gave everything for CFC for the past and glorious years. Indeed they will forever remain in our memories. Goodluck!!!!!!
True, nothing hurts more than Mata accepting to go to United, the team i hate most. I think that decision is very spiteful to most if not all CFC fans.. I love him very much but i fault him as well. I disagree with the claims of Mourinho trying to make him more defensive as much as i disagree with him leaving because he has been benched virtually all season. For Mourinho, sometimes you can’t change a player but if that player has great attributes which enable you achieve results, you buy or create others to cover for his weakness and allow him to perform. Can you convert Willian or Schurrle into goal keepers??? Now for Juan you don’t decide to leave a club because you warm the bench. If we want to go by his logic, i’m sure most of the quality on City’s bench would have left. That said, i can’t wish Juan evil. I love him too much to do that. Unfortunately, i have had to unlike his official FB and Twitter pages because i won’t be able to stand any tweet about United. I think that with the greatest respect to all, we should quickly get over this and move on so that our current players who are winning matches for us would not feel disrespected and unappreciated.
Mata wasn’t in the first 11 of Spanish team in Euro and Confederations Cup, even after playing so good for Chelsea in the previous seasons. He was just a squad member, and he will sit on bench in the upcoming world cup too. Why doesn’t he understand, no matter how good he plays, he will be always behind Xavi, Iniesta, Fabregas and Silva in the pecking order. He may play 1 full match and 2-3 substitute appearances at most. So it just doesn’t make sense. He should stay and fight for his place, and if he really wants to leave, then leave in the summer.
u ave said mehn……
all
da best!!!!