da betsul： [ad_pod ]
da cassino： According to The Sun, Juan Mata has taken a £45,000-a-week pay cut to sign a new two-year contract with Manchester United.
What’s the word, then?
Mata’s previous deal with United was due to expire at the end of this month.
The 31-year-old was used on 32 occasions during the 2018-19 campaign but it would be fair to say that he struggled to have a serious impact.
The attacker did provide six goals and four assists, though, and has now signed a new two-year contract with the 20-time English champions.
According to The Sun, Mata agreed to a 25% reduction in his weekly pay packet in order to continue his stay with United, who finished sixth in the Premier League last season.
It would not have been a surprise to see the attacker pack up and return to Spain this summer. However, he clearly wanted to stay in Manchester and the former Chelsea playmaker is exactly the type of character that the club needs at this moment in time.
Why is Mata so important to United?
On the field, his contribution has been debatable – 45 goals and 37 assists in 218 appearances for United since a 2014 switch from Chelsea.
Mata only scored three Premier League goals last season but was again largely deployed as a right winger, where he looks incredibly uncomfortable.
There are few players with a top-level winning mentality in the United dressing room, though, and it is worth remembering that the 41-time Spain international has landed trophies with Valencia, Chelsea and indeed the Red Devils.
Whilst the likes of Jesse Lingard and Marcus Rashford are being heavily criticised for their social media activity, there will be no videos of Mata getting up to nonsense during his summer holidays.
Watch a Man Utd fan’s epic Ed Woodward rant in the video below…
Of course, Mata is older and wiser than a number of his teammates but he also carries himself in the correct manner and his charity, Common Goal, does some incredible work.
Critics will say that Mata is still collecting £135,000-a-week – an incredible sum – but there are few footballers in the modern game who would take a pay cut to stay at their current club.
It is certainly a tough period for Manchester United but retaining the services of Mata must be seen as a huge positive.