Juan Mata vs Mesut Ozil - Who is better?

Juan Mata finally sealed his £37million transfer to Manchester United at the weekend, citing many Chelsea fans to question Jose Mourinho’s decision – something unusually rare.

The Spaniard was the attacking catalyst behind everything good that Chelsea achieved since his arrival 2011. He won the club’s Player of the Year award twice and is a chance creation machine. In just 13 games this season, he’s created 30 chances, which only Eden Hazard, at Chelsea, has created more.

Chelsea Top Chance Creators This Season

Mata is seen as the perfect ‘number 10? player, sitting in the hole between the opposition’s midfield and defence, causing havoc and creating chances for the strikers. He’s the perfect partner in crime in attack for a lethal goal-scorer.

Arsenal’s Mesut Ozil is seen by many worldwide as the best ‘number 10? in the world; the best at what he does. He, too, creates chances like there’s no tomorrow. While playing for Germany, Werder Bremen and Real Madrid, Ozil made a name for himself as the ideal attacking midfielder. He is calm, collected, precise and a perfectionist. His eye for a pass is almost as good as his ability to complete it.

The Premier League is often labelled as the best in the world, but what it can boast is the two best playmakers in world football.

Mesut Ozil Chances Created Last Season (91 Created, 13 assists)

Mata and Ozil are sublime and fantastic in their roles. In La Liga last season, Ozil created 91 chances in 32 games. That included 13 assists. Mata, on the other hand, created 95 in 35, assisting 12. So there’s not much separating them there.

Juan Mata Chances Created Last Season (95 Created, 12 Assists)

To judge them both, fully, this season would be slightly unfair on the Spaniard as his German counterpart would beat him across the park due to playing sufficiently more minutes than him.

Juan Mata Chelsea Appearances This Season

In total, Ozil has played 17 league games this season, four more than Mata, but the key difference is the Arsenal midfielder has started all of his matches, compared to Mata, who has started just 11 games this season.

Mesut Özil Arsenal Appearances This Season

The German has completed 51 key passes, just one short of the league-high set by Hazard. Only one player has more assists than Ozil’s seven, too, and that’s Wayne Rooney – Mata’s new teammate – with 9.

The Spaniard has created 30 chances in his 13 appearances, averaging 2.3 key passes per game which is less than Ozil’s average of three per match.

To judge them both fairly, we would have to look at Ozil’s performance after 13 matches at Arsenal. After 13 matches for the Gunners, Ozil had created 36 chances and still assisted seven goals. That’s six more chances created and five more assists than Mata.

You judge playmakers by the number of chances they create and this pair are the best at it. Mata has struggled this season and would be around the same figure as Ozil had he been given more playing time under Jose Mourinho, and allowed the freedom he needs to express his undoubted ability.

It is thought that Mourinho’s reasoning for keeping Mata out of his side is that he wasn’t contributing enough defensively and didn’t work hard enough off the ball to get it back. That may be true but if you compare his duel figures with Ozil’s, but it clearly doesn’t bother Arsene Wenger, whose star summer signing has helped push them to the top of the league.

Juan Mata Duels This Season

Ozil has won just eight tackles all season, one more than the number of assists he’s collected. Mata, on the other hand, has won 12 tackles from an attempted 28 – a 43% success rate, compared to Ozil’s 25% success.

Mesut Özil Duels Won

Judging from those figures, maybe Mourinho was a little harsh in his culling of Mata but he may have needed to sell him in order to raise funds to fit in with Financial Fair Play. Who knows?

What is true, though, is that Man United have signed a truly world class attacking midfielder who is more than capable of helping them get back into the top four. It’s a big task but Mata’s chance creation and all-round final third play is well worth the £37.1m paid for him.