Mata has not been offered a new contract

MANCHESTER: Juan Mata is in the dark over his future at Old Trafford despite bailing Manchester United out of trouble twice in the space of a month.

Mata’s free-kick sparked a sensational late comeback against Juventus on Wednesday night as Jose Mourinho’s side rallied to win 2-1 in Turin.

It was similar to the Spaniard’s expert set-piece last month that saw United fight back from two goals down to beat Newcastle 3-2 and avert a growing crisis at the club.

However, Sportsmail understands that Mata is still waiting for United to make him a contract offer with less than eight months left on his current £140,000 (RM762,122)-a-week deal.

United triggered the 12-month option on Mata’s contract at the start of this year, but a player who cost £37.1 million in 2014 will be a free agent in the summer and able to speak to foreign clubs in January.

The 30-year-old has been linked with his old Valencia boss Unai Emery at Arsenal, and has a number of offers on the table from Spain.

Mata is one of the United players who has endured a difficult relationship with Mourinho in recent months, and was known to be unhappy at being sacrificed to make way for reserve goalkeeper Lee Grant when Sergio Romero was sent off in the Carabao Cup defeat to Derby.

But he started all four games after coming on to score against Newcastle on Oct 6, and made another huge impact with an equally clinical free-kick against Juve at the Allianz Stadium.

Mata revealed that he pleaded with United captain Ashley Young to let him take the setpiece before curling a wonderful effort beyond goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny.

“As soon as there was the freekick in there, I had the confidence that I had to take it,” he said. “I told Ash ‘please let me take it, because I can go over the wall’. It’s very difficult for the goalkeeper because they don’t see a lot.

Mourinho’s side turned the last Etihad derby on its head in April when they fought back from two goals down to win 3-2.

“It's true that they are the favourites because they are in unbelievable form, but this is Manchester United and you never know what can happen,” said Herrera.