Former Chelsea winger Juan Mata has claimed that rivals cannot buy into the history that Manchester United enjoyed. This statement is seen as a dig at his former club and also to the likes of Manchester City. Mata enjoyed a renaissance at United under Louis van Gaal in the last few months of the 2014-15 season. The Spaniard was frozen out of the first team following the arrival of Angel di Maria for a club record transfer fee of £ 60 million. The drop in form of the Argentine helped Mata secure a return to the first-team.
It is widely expected that the Spaniard will be a key figure for the Premier League giants going forward. United are currently enjoying their pre-season tour of the United States and Mata has said that he is surprised that the amount of fans that United enjoy outside England. Manchester United are amongst the most well supported clubs across the world. It is a fan base that has been created by winning numerous titles in the last three decades. United hold the record for the most number of league titles in English football after recently surpassing Liverpool, but they trail the Merseyside outfit in terms of the Champions League titles.
“It was unbelievable to see how many supporters we have in the United States and even when we were playing teams like Real Madrid, we had more supporters than them. It’s amazing to feel fans in the States are with us.I think it’s very nice to know that the American fans are trying to learn more about the history of the club. We love them and thank them a lot because we can feel their support even from overseas and hopefully we can see a lot of them this summer,” said the winger.