By Tom Finn
October 15, 2014
Italian Serie A Champions Juventus are confident that they will be able to sign Manchester United midfielder Juan Mata in January.
Since joining United from Chelsea last January while former manager David Moyes was in charge the Spanish international has failed to impress new manager Louis van Gaal and has found himself sitting on the Red Devils bench.
Van Gaal prefers to play Wayne Rooney in Mata’s favourite number 10 position behind striker Robin van Persie and Radamel Falcao leaving no place in the starting 11 for the 26-year-old Spaniard.
The Dutchman allowed fellow midfield playmaker Shinji Kagawa to depart during the summer and now looks set to let Mata go during the January transfer window if Juventus or his former club Valencia who are also interested can come up with van Gaal’s £20 million valuation.
With Juventus looking like they could lose Chilean international Arturo Vidal trainer Massimo Allegri thinks that Mata would slot into the team playing behind former Manchester City striker Carlos Tevez, a situation that would suit both the Italian club and the player in question.
