Today, Manchester United and Juan Mata put to rest concerns that his time with the club could be coming to an end soon. Two weeks ago, we learned that the club had not yet activated his 12-month contract extension. Thus he became free to negotiate with foreign teams ahead of a potential transfer move in the summer.
Well, you can put those worries to bed now as the club officially announced his contract extension today. The Spaniard, who came over from Chelsea in January 2014 for a then club record £37.1 million, is now officially on board until the end of the 2018-19 season. The team released a statement indicating that they have now exercised the club option, meaning his deal will now run until June 2019.
.@JuanMata8 has spoken to #MUTV following the extension of his #MUFC contract, with the deal now running until June 2019.
?? https://t.co/xkvabjtRcD pic.twitter.com/UCe0eEbfIF— Manchester United (@ManUtd) January 30, 2018
“I still feel very happy and very proud to be part of this club. I think everyone that belongs to Manchester United should feel privileged, and that’s how I feel,” reads the statement attributed to Juan Mata on the club’s official website.
“I’m happy with everyone at the club and, obviously, with the manager and my team-mates. Once you are part of this club, your football career is not the same; it changes, because this is one of the biggest clubs in football history. Every day I try to tell myself how lucky and how privileged I am, try to take advantage of every single training session, and try to see how important it is to be a Manchester United player.”
Mata has accomplished a lot in his four years at United; and played under three different managers.
ON THIS TRANSFER DAY: In 2014 Juan Mata joined Man United from Chelsea for a then club record fee of £37.1 million. Since then in the Premier League:
130 games
215 chances created
93 take-ons completed
19 assists
30 goalsAnd he's started the Common Goal charity. pic.twitter.com/3ukxyJmQHS
— Squawka (@Squawka) January 25, 2018
It’s been quite a special month for Juan Mata, as he also rubbed elbows with world leaders in Davos, Switzerland as he became the first footballer in history to attend the World Economic Forum.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and the Tribune corporation blogging community Chicago Now.
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