In fairness, he won’t be too surprised.
Juan Mata has probably been sweating about his Manchester United future since last December, when the rumours about Jose Mourinho replacing Louis van Gaal began to gain momentum.
The Spanish midfielder had been Chelsea’s best player in his two seasons with the club, and then Mourinho arrived, dropped him from the team and sold him to United.
Mata could be on the hunt for a new club just 18 months into his Old Trafford tenure if this is anything to go by.
During his unveiling on Friday afternoon, new United forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic was holding a club jersey, with his name on the back but without a squad number.
The Swede asked the club representative what his number will be, and although there’s no audio, Zlatan noticeably mouths 50 seconds in: “Eight, that’s cool.”
https://youtu.be/JAt4ENXCAQ0?t=46s
Mata is the current United number eight, but it looks as though he could be on the move just two and a half years into his stay at Old Trafford.
The 28-year-old’s chances of a future at United appeared to suffer a further blow when Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s transfer was confirmed on Saturday morning.
There’d been suggestions that Zlatan would wear number nine – a UK retailer are selling United jerseys with Ibrahimovic number nine – but it looks like he’ll be sporting number eight.
Interestingly, that was the squad number he wore at Inter Milan, during his last spell working with Mourinho.
