Our pay is obscene — we live in a bubble ‘Youngsters think they’re rock stars with flash cars’

JUAN MATA’S REFRESHINGLY HONEST TAKE ON THE MODERN FOOTBALLER

Manchester United midfielder Juan Mata has taken a refreshingly honest swipe at the ‘obscene’ money circulating in football’s ‘bubble’ and the ‘rock star’ attitudes of some young players.

spain star Mata cost £37million when he left chelsea for United two years ago. he is thought to earn £150,000 a week, but has become the first high- profile Premier League player to voice his unease about the commercialisation of a sport he adores.

Mata even confessed he would take a pay cut if it meant a return to the days when football was driven by the fans, not businessmen.

‘Football is very well remunerated at this level,’ said the 27-year-old in an interview on spanish tV show Salvados. ‘We live in a bubble. compared to the rest of society, we earn a ridiculous amount. It’s unfathomable. With respect to the world of football, I earn a normal wage. But compared to 99.9 per cent of spain and the rest of the world, I earn a silly amount.’

the Premier League’s new broadcasting rights deal is worth £5.1billion and comes into effect at the end of this season. It is expected to catapult spending to yet another jaw-dropping level.

representatives of sweden’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic are reported to be informing interested parties it will cost £600,000 a week to sign him from Paris saint- Germain. Lionel Messi is the highest-paid footballer, earning £59m a year from his salary, bonuses and sponsorship deals, according to France Football’s rich list.

Meanwhile, ticket prices show no sign of falling. the new bounty is expected to be eaten up by wages. riches at the very top is one thing, but inside the english game there have long been concerns about the out-of-control pay demands of top teenage players, egged on by agents and families who are acutely aware of their potential and pressure on the biggest clubs to produce more of their own talent.

according to one experienced and respected manager in the Football League, it is the single biggest issue facing the sport.

Mata added: ‘every player thinks he’s Diego Maradona when he joins a big club. that happens to all of us but then you notice it in the younger players. You see kids who think they’re rock stars, wearing extravagant clothes and driving flash cars. sometimes you have to take them aside and have a word.’

Mata joined chelsea in 2011 from Valencia. he has enjoyed a reputation as a sensible player with his feet on the ground. every Monday morning, he writes a low-key blog called One Hour Behind to let his fans in spain know what he has been up to on and off the field, but he has rarely been outspoken.

he was incredibly popular at Valencia and, when he was sold to United because he was not part of Jose Mourinho’s first-team plans, he penned a 1,000-word open letter to the fans at stamford Bridge.

In it, he went to the trouble of thanking everyone from roman abramovich to Mourinho, the kitman and the press officer. It was a nice touch in an age when fans feel disconnected from the players. the photograph of samir nasri stand- ing beside his £330,000 Lamborghini in a row of terraced houses worth £85,000 each seemed to sum it up.

In an interview with Sportsmail in 2012, Mata revealed he was studying for two university degrees. his holidays are more likely to be spent back-packing around europe with friends than flying off by private jet to six-star resorts in Dubai.

he will not be found downing spirits from the bottle at a Las Vegas pool party or sucking nitrous oxide from a party balloon.

Mata’s earliest football memories are from the dressing rooms and training grounds of community clubs, but he realises people are becoming disenchanted by a game awash with cash and obsessed with making more.

‘the business side of football makes it seem as though the owners are now more important than the fans,’ said Mata.

‘I don’t enjoy the business side of football. I love the game. I love training and competing.

‘I’d take a pay cut if there was less business involvement in the sport. at this level, we’re very well paid and sometimes you start thinking there isn’t much of a difference between x and x+3.’

Mata is one of football’s deepthinking players. It is not his style to shock. he is not someone in search of a surge of Instagram followers. nor is he trying to shuffle into a media career.

Perhaps it is time for football to sit up and listen.