Out-of-favour Juan Mata thanks Chelsea fans for helping him through 'difficult' time

 
Simon Johnson24 September 2013

Juan Mata has thanked Chelsea fans for helping him cope with the toughest time of his career at Stamford Bridge and is keen to repay them in the Capital One Cup Third Round tie at Swindon tonight.

Mata will start just his third game of the season at the County Ground having been largely ignored by Jose Mourinho since he returned to the club as manager this summer.

Mourinho has publicly criticized the Spanish international for his performances and revealed last week that Oscar is now first choice to play in the No.10 role for the club.

Mata, who was voted by fans as Chelsea’s Player of the Year for the past two seasons, was surprisingly left out of the squad altogether for the 2-0 win against Fulham on Saturday.

But the 25-year-old has been inundated with backing from supporters and he said: “A million thanks for your messages; they are really moving, everything would be more difficult without you guys!”

Mourinho has told Mata that he is still part of his plans but must improve and adapt his game if he is to play regularly alongside Oscar in his preferred 4-2-3-1 formation.

As things stand, the midfielder who joined from Valencia for £23.5m in 2011, is determined to fight for his place and revealed earlier this month that he wants to stay at the club.

However, several clubs, including Tottenham, Paris Saint Germain, Napoli and Atletico Madrid, are already monitoring the situation in view of making a bid to sign him in the January transfer window.

Mata is desperate to play for Spain in the World Cup in Brazil next year, but his lack of playing time is already putting that dream at risk and he was significantly left out of their recent qualifier against Finland.

This evening his mind is purely focused on helping Chelsea beat Swindon and moving a step closer to lifting a trophy he has missed out on so far.

He added on his personal blog: “Another intense week is starting, again with games in two different competitions, after we weren’t able to win twice in a row at Stamford Bridge against Basle and Fulham. We will try to do it this week.

“The first match is already here against Swindon Town in the Capital One Cup. I haven’t been able to win this tournament with Chelsea yet. In my first two years we couldn’t get to play the final at Wembley.

“As it is also the case with the Premier League, I would love to add this trophy to my record. It would be very special to end my career having won all the different competitions in the English football.”

David Luiz, Michael Essien, Cesar Azpilicueta and Ryan Bertrand are also expected to be in the first XI.

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