Chelsea FC’s 50 Greatest Players Of All-Time

36. Juan Mata: 2011-14

A regular response to the question – does a 2.5 year career for a club & a voluntary transfer request to a top league rival, especially due to incompatibility with a much revered manager, beget near-legendary status? – would be a-laugh-in-your-face moment. But that the answer is a rare affirmative, as is in the case of Juan Mata, speaks volumes of the love (rightfully deserved) that Chelsea fans have for this diminutive Spanish midfielder.

A reasonably high transfer fee of £23.5m contradicted the quiet manner of his arrival from Valencia in 2011, as a 23-year old, amidst rumours of a transfer to Arsenal (no surprise, since all that Arsenal can d0 is have players ‘linked’ to their club). Mata then took no time in proving the adage ‘big-things-come-in-small-packages’ true, quickly showing that he rightfully deserved the No.10 shirt.

Speed, precision-level passing and a fairly uncanny knack of scoring important goals are a part of Mata’s repertoire and during his Chelsea years, he often crafted goals for us out of thin air. He is a rare combo of sporting skills, affability and erudition (multiple education degrees), but one which made him such a darling of the Chelsea crowd. He also brought us three trophies in 2.5 years, two of which were European titles.

After Mourinho’s return, Mata found himself on the sidelines more often than not and was forced to ask for a transfer to Manchester United. A £37m transfer fee later (a whopping 50% profit for Chelsea), Mata was on his way to Old Trafford in the winter transfer window of 2014. Mata was the first for Chelsea, in recent times, to be sold to a direct top rival, setting precedent for Petr Cech’s transfer to Arsenal, a year later.

In the hearts of Blues fans, his was a Chelsea career that was far too short.

Next: #35