Manchester United on Thursday revealed that Juan Mata will depart the club when his contract expires in the summer.
The 34-year-old midfielder joined the Reds in January 2014 and went on to play 285 games, scoring 51 goals and winning four trophies.
Mata, a World Cup and European Championship winner in 2010 and 2012 respectively, had already won the Champions League, FA Cup and Europa League – all with Chelsea – when he penned a contract with the Reds in 2014.
The statement on Manchester United’s website read “Thank you for dedicating eight years of your career to United, Juan. Everyone at the club wishes you all the best for the future.”
“He remained a highly regarded member of the squad. His teammates and members of staff never tired of praising his professional attitude and positivity.”
The Spanish also said his goodbyes to the United faithful on Twitter
“I wanted to say thank you very much for the years and especially the difficult times that we lived together,” Mata said.
“I will never forget you, Thank you very much. All the best.”
Juan has a message for us all 🤳❤️#MUFC | @JuanMata8 pic.twitter.com/U0TOFgq8X1
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) June 2, 2022
Mata made more than 30 appearances in each of the 2017/18, 2018/19 and 2019/20 seasons and although his tallies dropped below 20 in the last two terms.
He made his final appearance in the last fixture of the 2021/22 season, away to Crystal Palace on 22 May.
