A revelation since leaving Real, the Madrid club must be regretting letting him go for nothing
No one at Real Madrid seemed to care very much when Juan Mata forced his way out of the club, complaining that the contract he was being offered was an insult. He had just scored nine goals in 39 games for the club’s B team and was clearly going to be a decent player, but few expected much more than that.
They should have done: Valencia picked him up, and although Quique Sanchez Flores overlooked him Ronald Koeman saw his value (the Dutchman's one positive, according to the fans) and Mata was a revelation, scoring five in the second half of the 2007-08 season and getting the same again in the opening weeks of 2008-09, combining perfectly with his fellow Asturias-born team-mate David Villa.
A Spain call-up followed for this creative, clever visionary who lines up on the left hand side of Valencia’s front three.