Manchester United midfielder Juan Mata is said to have reached an agreement with manager Jose Mourinho over his role in the squad, accepting that he will have a reduced role in the squad compared to last season under the management of Louis van Gaal.
Mata played every single one of United’s league games last season, starting all but four of them, but looks set for a reduced role in the coming campaign even though he has started both of the club’s Premier League games so far.
The Spaniard even scored the club’s first goal of the season, striking the opener in a 3-1 win over Bournemouth, but the Telegraph report that he has accepted after talks with Mourinho that he will not have the same guaranteed first-team role he enjoyed under Van Gaal.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan is expected to come in and replace Mata on the right when he has bedded into his role at the club, but the Spaniard will not be sold this summer as Mourinho puts his own stamp on the squad.
A number of players are still expected to leave Old Trafford before Wednesday’s transfer deadline, but Mata – who had attracted interest from Everton at one point – does not look like being one of them.
Speaking after Mata’s goal against Bournemouth, Mourinho said: “It was an important goal, a clever goal, a goal by somebody with a natural instinct to play football. I know him very well because I worked with him for six months at a previous club.
“I know exactly what he can give and what he cannot give, so when the game is the perfect game to give what he can, it is perfect and today it was about this. I’m really happy with him, but I’m really happy with the whole team, even with the ones that came on later because they gave a contribution, and even with the ones on the bench. I could feel they were with us.”
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