After a bitter fall out at Chelsea, Juan Mata has revealed in his new book, how he professionally rectified his relation with Jose Mourinho at Old Trafford.
Mata wrote: “Louis was gone and rumours about José Mourinho being appointed as Manchester United‘s new manager acquired a life of their own. A few days later, the rumours had become fact. Mourinho was my manager again. And, despite the concern of my family, friends and many people, I was determined to face the situation as I’d always tried to: positively.
“As expected, so many stories came out again in the press. I had no possible future at the club. I had already agreed to leave. Far too many people believed the information was true, again, and reached the conclusion that I had no future under him.
“José and I were together at Chelsea before, of course, and after having being together for sixth months, my career would take a different direction: Manchester. Yes, I didn’t enjoy as much playing time as I would have loved to or was used to during those sixth months, but I never had a personal problem with José.
“Naturally, people assumed that the story would repeat itself. I was determined it wouldn’t. To do so, I focused, like many times during my career, on what I could control: my dedication, professionalism and commitment. Time would prove me right. If you ask me, yes, this is an aspect of my career that I’m very proud of, because, regardless of winning or losing, playing more or less, I didn’t take the easier way. I didn’t give up.
“I enjoyed my holidays and came back to the training ground full of energy to face the challenge in front of me. All of us players start from zero when a new manager arrives.
“The first conversation between José and me, which many were waiting for, thinking it could be the last, was as plain and normal as you can imagine. We didn’t make one single comment about the rumours. Nor did we discuss the past. He greeted me normally, in a manner befitting our relationship.
“We started to speak, in a very relaxed way, about Manchester, what the city was like to live in, holidays, even about a Barça match that we had both watched on television the previous day, the odd player and football in general.
“There was no need to discuss what happened at Chelsea. Why would we have done so? I preferred letting my football speak for itself.”
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