After a lot of rejections and failures, it appears that David Moyes will finally be able to get his hands on a player who he feels will have enough about him to turn around the fortunes of a club the Scot inherited from Sir Alex Ferguson last year.
With continuing their reign as the champions of England out of the question, the most pressing matter for Manchester United is now to go for a top four finish which seems to be a very tough ask considering the form of the teams above them.
However, the club has got to try but with the players their manager has at his disposal, it might not happen.
For the past four odd seasons, the Red Devils have struggled to find a player who can add creativity to the middle of the park. Last summer was spent scouting a hoard of players who chose not to come to Old Trafford. Indeed it will be a great boon for the fans if Juan Mata joins them this January. The Spanish international is clearly not in Jose Mourinho’s plans at Chelsea despite all that he has done for the club since joining from Valencia three years ago.
However, it still remains to be seen that Mata, should he actually sign for United, will be a great acquisition or just a statement signing tailored in order to attract other players to the club. Such has been United’s plight that attracting players to the Theatre of Dreams has been nothing short of heartache after heartache. Indeed, getting Mata onboard will let other targets know that there is life left in England’s most successful club.
Regardless, there is still a huge group of people who believe that Mata’s arrival will not be solving the club’s problems by any means.
Despite signing Marouane Fellaini back in August, midfield remains a pressing concern while the left-back problem refuses to go away. Adding Mata to the pool will cater the team’s creativity issues but one also has to find out just why Mourinho does not trust the former Valencia man that much.
The Portuguese tactician has been skeptical of his work-rate which should be a concern for Moyes. Considering the fact that Wayne Rooney will continue playing in his preferred number 10 role till the end of the current season atleast, Mata is most likely to play on the left wing and his reluctance to track back means that Evra will be left stranded from time to time.
It is also important to realize that the philosophy United follow favors wide wingers as opposed to narrow wingers, a role which Shinji Kagawa has thoroughly failed at so far and a role Juan Mata is likely to perform if he is to join the Red Devils. This accounts for the fact that in order to accommodate the Spaniard Moyes might have to bring out a change in the philosophy which has stood for quite some time.
The amount of money which is involved in the transfer gives rise to another debate as to whether creativity was the department which needed to be addressed given United’s fragile defence and unstable midfield.
However, one should not deny the fact that Mata is one of the best midfielders in the Premier League and having him on the field will make the Red Devils more competitive than they have been this season.
Playing through the middle has not been United’s strongest points and having Mata will add efficiency to the middle of the park. Furthermore given the quality of Robin Van Persie and Wayne Rooney and their ability to convert most of their chances, Mata’s addition can see United scoring more goals than before.
With Shinji Kagawa and Fellaini not living up to their expectations, United do not have options other than watching the likes of Januzaj and Antonio Valencia whipping in crosses from the flanks. Having no centralized attacking play this season means that David Moyes’ team have become predictable so signing Mata will at least improve the attack if not solve so many problems Moyes inherited from Sir Alex.
