By Jeff Kenyatta
In football, every time a player stands on the field, his substitute sits on the bench. For Eto’o to have scored a hatrick against Man-U, Torres had to be out.
For the class-less United fans and for the Chelsea fans saying, “Jose should have played Mata more and it his fault that he left”, I would like to tell you something.
When Juan Mata joined, Florent Malouda was a vital player for the team. It took only one game for Mata to put Malouda on the bench for the rest of his Chelsea career. Just one game, just a single match.
Malouda would go on to stay until his contract expired even when it was rumoured the club wanted him to leave before his contract expired. Did Malouda walk away?
John Terry, Chelsea’s legend and captain, wasn’t a rotation option under Rafael Bernitez. He occasionally came on with very few minutes to play. Instead of walking away, he worked hard and has become a permanent name on the teamsheet again.
Legendary Ashley Cole, arguably the finest Left-Back of his time, has lost his place to a right-footed Cesar Azpilicueta. With a place at Brazil not secured, he hasn’t sulked or tried to walk away. Ashley, unlike Mata, has never even won the world cup.
Now, if you’re saying Mata should have played more despite not being as good as either of Hazard or Oscar or Willian at the moment, explain to me why Terry, a legend should have been dumped on the bench, or why Malouda who was especially phenomenal under Ancelotti should have lost his place after a good game by Mata.
Juan Mata played over 130 games for Chelsea in just over two years. He started over 100 of those and was fantastic for this club in most of these games, scoring 32 goals and making 28 assists. He made huge contribution to success at the club during his time here. As a club, we honour and salute him.
But more profoundly, that is football. The players are on temporal contracts, not permanent jobs. The exit of some marks the entry of others. We’ve seen coaches and managers and players come and go. In a competitive football world, where cups and tournaments and leagues are hard-won, whereby a single goal denotes 3 points, we cannn’t risk talent.
Chelsea is bigger than an individual.
In the end, Juan Mata did what he felt he had to do after failing to adjust to the way the manager wanted him to play. Mourinho was even kind enough to sell him with a big rival club in the premier.
To Man-U fans, don’t be happy. You had Robin Van Persie, the serial striker from Arsenal, what’s your current form with him? In fact, Arsenal are better without him. They killed the one-man syndrome and created chances and spaces for others.
Hehehe, when a child grows up, he gives up his toys and toddler clothes to those after him or the needy. That’s what we did. Are we losers by the transfer? Hell no, we sold mata at 37M pounds and bought Mohamed Sala cheaply. With your money. That’s business. Football is business.
To Mohamed Salah. Welcome to Chelsea. I hear Arab and Muslim world has been painted blue. In Egypt, Chelsea calendars, jerseys and keyholders are the booming ‘quail’ business. The 21 year old attack midfielder is great.
To Jose Mourihno, the sent one, the only one, Happy Birthday! With Mata, it doesn’t mata. Either way, Mata will win us a cup when Man-U beats Arsenal and Man-City, to place us at the top.
GOODBYE MATA, WELCOME SALAH