Source: Daily_Mail
Chelsea's new signing Juan Mata is the one to watch at the Bridge
Real Madrid will receive just ?460,000 from the deal that has taken Juan Mata from Valencia to Chelsea scant consolation for letting the most talented player the club's youth system has produced over the last decade slip away.[LNB]Clubs do not like being told what to do by young players' fathers but sometimes Dad knows best. [LNB] New arrival: Juan Mata is close to signing for Chelsea[LNB]When Juan Mata Snr a former professional with Spanish second division side Burgos told Real they should offer his young Juan a senior contract and pay rise because he was attracting interest elsewhere, they ignored the warnings. [LNB]But Juan Mata Snr was not bluffing. His son, then aged 19, had just finished the season with 10 goals in a struggling Madrid B-team in Spain's second division. [LNB]He had gone into the season having just been voted player of the tournament in Spain's Under 19 European Championship win.[LNB]Despite huge promise and the fact that in the previous campaign he had starred as Real's C-team won the league and the youth Champions League, Fabio Capello, who was then boss at the Bernabeu, was not in favour of Mata being promoted to the first team. [LNB] Got him: Villas-Boas has finally got the creative midfielder he desperately craved[LNB]The club's policy then was to favour expensive acquisitions from abroad over homegrown talent and sporting director Pedrag Mijatovic brought in Holland Under 21 midfielder Royston Drenthe now facing the prospect of being without a club this season rather than give into the demands of Mata Snr.[LNB]They waved away the pushy parent before Valencia stepped in to match the family's demands in 2007. It did not take long, however, for the youngster from Oviedo to embarrass his former employers. [LNB] Blues brothers: Mata is set to team-up with fellow countryman Torres[LNB]He was thrown straight into the first team by Valencia coach Ronald Koeman and played a major part in the team winning the Spanish Cup that season, as he scored in the quarter-finals, twice in the semi-finals against Barcelona, and again with his head in the final against Getafe. [LNB]He also made his Champions League debut that year against Chelsea.Mata Snr's impatience was further justified this summer when the left winger prepared to move away from Valencia after four years.[LNB]Mata had already decided that Barcelona, Manchester United or Chelsea would be his favoured destination. When Arsenal showed interest this also found favour with the 23-year-old and his father. [LNB]But the Gunners never got around to making a concrete bid. United and Barcelona signed Ashley Young and Alexis Sanchez respectively, leaving Chelsea in the driving seat. [LNB]Fernando Torres had told friends at the end of last season that he might not be the only Spain star in London by the end of the summer and so it proved with the two players in constant contact on the final weekend of negotiations. [LNB]Mata, part of Spain's 2010 World Cup-winning team, also spoke with Cesc Fabregas over the possibility of joining Arsenal but manager Arsene Wenger failed to react.[LNB]Perhaps memories of the last winger he brought from the Iberian Peninsula still keep him awake at night. Jose Antonio Reyes ended up moaning his way back to Spain, upset by everything British from the weather to the food. [LNB] Grounded: Reyes failed to recapture his La Liga form that prompted Arsenal to spend ?10.5m on his signature[LNB]His family, who moved with him to London, got caught out by a Spanish radio spoof and tricked into admitting they would 'gladly sleep under a bridge' if Real could just cough up the money to bring their son home. [LNB]Between Mata's home town close to the north coast and Reyes' Seville roots down in the south their lies an entire country and the two players are worlds apart in terms of personality and upbringing.[LNB]Mata Snr has raised an independent and well-educated son with wife Marta. [LNB]Mata studied business at university and his sister is working abroad for a PR agency in Brighton. [LNB]Adapting will not be difficult and seen as a challenge by a player who grew up watching English football, counting Dennis Bergkamp and Ryan Giggs as his heroes. [LNB]He is now a part of the Barclays Premier League which he once admired from afar.[LNB]Valencia have the ?15million first instalment of a sum that will rise to ?29m. Real have their ?460,000 and a sense of what might have been. [LNB]Chelsea have a kid who walked away from the biggest club in Spain and never looked back.[LNB] It's a Mata of fact! Valencia star confirms Chelsea medical as he nears ?29m switch Chelsea near to sealing ?24m deal for Valencia star Juan MataEXCLUSIVE: Abramovich splashes ?29m on Mata AND makes huge new offer for ModricAll the latest Chelsea news, features and opinion[LNB] [LNB]
