The arrival of Jose Mourinho as Manchester United manager signalled the end of Juan Mata’s time with the club, according to popular opinion. The Spaniard had been ostracised and then sold by Mourinho at Chelsea, and so the pair were unexpected to find a happy medium at Old Trafford.
The subsequent arrival of Henrikh Mkhitaryan at Manchester United put Mata’s place even further in jeopardy and rumours about an imminent exit quickly followed.
France’s InfoSport, who aren’t usually ones to spread nonsense rumours, reckon Mata is on his way to Everton for €25m. A journalist from InfoSport sent out a couple of tweets which made the whole thing sound like a done deal.
Juan Mata devrait bientôt quitter Manchester United et s’engager avec Everton. Négociation du transfert autour de 25 millions d’euros #MUFC
— Flora Moussy (@FloraMoussy) July 3, 2016
Ibrahimovic devrait porter le numéro 8 confirmant ainsi le départ de Juan Mata à Everton. L’arrivée de Mourinho fatale à l’Espagnol #MUFC
— Flora Moussy (@FloraMoussy) July 3, 2016
The reason it’s popular in France is Zlatan Ibrahimovic related, with him expected to take Mata’s number 8 shirt. Then the sale of Manchester United replica kits can really get going.
It’s unclear if InfoSport are simply mashing together other reports, they don’t say. Perhaps it’s worth mentioning that InfoSport were the first to really push Morgan Schneiderlin to Manchester United, at a time when the general consensus was he was about to become an Arsenal player.
