Jose’s arrival sparked Mata fears

JUAN Mata has revealed he received calls from ‘concerned friends and family’ when Jose Mourinho was appointed United manager.

The pair previously worked together for eight months at Chelsea when Mata struggled to nail down a place in his final season at the club, starting just 11 Premier League games, before his mid-season departure to United in January 2014.

The Spaniard has gone on to prove a key player for Mourinho at United, though, and has made that position on the right wing his own, despite preferring to play at No.10.

And while he was not fearing for his place when the 55-year-old was named as United boss in May, 2016, Mata admits his friends and family were worried.

“I faced it naturally,” he told Mundo Deportivo via Sporting Witness .

“It’s true I received calls from concerned friends and family but I knew that I didn’t have any personal problems with Mourinho at Chelsea. What hurt me is that they spread rumours and lies about what did not happen.”

United triggered the one-year extension on Mata’s contract last month. The 29-year-old’s original four-and-a-half year deal was due to run out at the end of the season.

At the time Mourinho said: “Mata is very important. He is another one, big story when I arrived one-and-a-half years ago. ‘Mata in trouble, in trouble, in trouble’.

“Now he’s getting an extension of one more year.”