Juan Manuel Mata García (born 28 April 1988) is a Spanish footballer who plays for Chelsea. He is primarily a winger, he can also operate down the middle as an attacking midfielder.
Mata started his football career at Real Oviedo spending three year there, joining Real Madrid. He progressed through the junior teams and successfully graduated from their youth academy. In March 2007, he signed for Valencia CF and spent the majority of his senior career with them, making 174 appearances, before signing for Premier League club Chelsea in August 2011, for a fee in the region of £23.5 million. On 27 August 2011, Mata made his debut and scored for Chelsea against Norwich City, where he came on as a substitute. Since with Chelsea, Mata has shown himself to be a play-making influence for, both scoring goals and creating them.
