Mourinho: I prefer Oscar over Mata as Chelsea’s No.10

We have been speculating this all summer. There probably wasn’t a single week in the entire summer when Juan Mata’s future had not been speculated.

It was reported in the media that Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho does not see Mata as an integral part of his plans, despite the fact that the Spaniard was the Blues’ best player last season. Mourinho is an admirer of his talent but probably Mata is not the type of player of his likings.

He said as quoted in The Guardian:

“The way I’m reading the situation and the reasons why, in this moment, he’s not playing so much are things I can speak about with him, but not publicly,”

“But he played against Everton from the start and you can analyse his performance. And he came on against Basel when the team were winning 1-0 – not like Demba Ba or Mikel John Obi, who came on to rescue the game –with specific tasks to do.

“It’s part of a process with him, too. It is one thing to play with Ramires and Oscar closing down opponents on each side, and Mata as a No10 behind a striker with his clever assists, clever passes and fantastic actions because he has great talent.

“But it is another thing to adapt to the way we want to play. In this moment, Oscar is my No10 and, if anyone tells me Oscar has not been Chelsea’s best player this season, I’d have todisagree. I have to prove to the fans that I am good. Now [Mata] must do the same.”

Well, well, well. There you go. Mata, the best player of Chelsea last season will have to change his natural style to fit into the system of Mourinho. The Portuguese clearly stated that he was not happy with the systems Chelsea had been playing for the last two seasons. Clearly, the challenge is on Mata now, to deliver, adapt to new system or else he could be shown the exit door.