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Amid the anticipation of some sort of conclusion regarding the Juan Mata situation at Chelsea, Jose Mourinho has offered some interesting comments on the subject of his role in the drama.
Mata signed for Chelsea going into the 2011/12 Premier League season for a figure in the region of £24 million and has won Chelsea’s player of the year award for during both his full seasons with the club. However, it has become apparent that Oscar is now Mourinho’s preferred playmaker. Mata’s role has resultantly become increasingly marginalised and the Spaniard has been farmed out to the right-wing, a position that has exposed weaker areas of the player’s game, such as tracking back.
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“I always try to be a cold one,” Mourinho said.
“I try to do my job forgetting that I am a soft heart and pretending that I am a hard heart,”
“With decisions I have to make, many times it hurts me, many times it hurts him. But the best way to do my job is to think that the team is more important than any player. When I have to make decisions, I always try to be a cold one, icy, analysing the situation and trying to make the best decision for the team. But yes, it hurts me.”
However, despite previously stating after the Southampton game that he would allow Mata to depart, the Portuguese manager also maintained he has no desire to see the Spanish International quit Chelsea. When asked how he would respond should Mata submit a transfer request during January, Mourinho said:
“I would say: ‘Go to Stamford Bridge and speak with the board.’ And I call the board to say: ‘Don’t let him go.’?”
Mata is not the only unsettled player who may be agitating for a move away from the Bridge during the current transfer window though, and Mourinho was also asked about the situation with Kevin De Bruyne, to which he responded:
“So we know that he fancies a move, but he is a fantastic player, and they are very expensive. So if people think they can get our good players on sale, the sales finished in London yesterday.”
