Are Juan Mata's Days as a No. 10 Numbered at Manchester United?

If football was judged only on statistics and nothing else, Manchester United would have a star player that shines brighter than any other. The Old Trafford club currently sit atop the Premier League, and Juan Mata, at least on the basis of goals and assists, deserves more credit than any other Red Devil this season.

Yet the Spaniard is seemingly still without a clear role under Louis Van Gaal, almost a temporary improvisation on what his philosophy demands.

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Indeed, under the Dutchman, Mata isn’t the most natural fit for United, even if his numbers and figures mark him out as one of the team’s most consistently productive players. By trade the Spaniard is a playmaker, operating in the No. 10 position, but for Van Gaal, he has been used as a right-winger. For the time being, it’s an arrangement of convenience rather than one of suitability.

So in the long term, does Mata have a place at Manchester United? With every transfer window, Van Gaal tailors his side a little bit more in keeping with his practices and methods—so will there come a time when the Spaniard is cut from the team to make way for someone better suited to the United manager’s ideology?

Mata’s days in the club’s starting lineup might well have been numbered ahead of this season had United succeeded in their efforts to sign Pedro from Barcelona this summer. The pursuit was noted by James Dixon of the Manchester Evening News. Should the Old Trafford club fulfil their grand objective to one day bring Gareth Bale back to the Premier League, it would be similarly difficult to envisage Mata keeping his place in United’s first-choice XI. 

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Of the seven coaches (Andre Villas-Boas, Rafael Benitez, Roberto di Matteo, Jose Mourinho, David Moyes, Ryan Giggs and Van Gaal) Mata has played under during his four-year stint in England, only two have been anything less than enchanted by the playmaker—Mourinho and Van Gaal. Unfortunately, those two coaches have had a defining influence on his Premier League career.

Mourinho cast aside Mata at Stamford Bridge in the belief that the Spaniard was not dynamic enough or defensively resolute enough to hold down a place in the high-pressing system he implemented upon his second coming at Chelsea. Now, at Man Utd, he finds himself playing under a coach with similar suspicions.

This time, however, Mata has been afforded the chance to at least prove his detractors wrong. Van Gaal, by his own admission, recognises that the Spaniard is one of the best players he has at Old Trafford. He had to find a way to incorporate Mata, and he has found that on the right wing of his attacking quartet.

It is perhaps surprising that Mata hasn’t been able to nail down a position in his preferred place in behind the central striker—especially considering that Van Gaal has actually given the Spaniard the chance to impress there. But when played in his supposed natural position, Mata has struggled to make an impression.

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Take United’s opening Champions League group game against PSV Eindhoven, when Mata was fielded in the No. 10 position. The Spaniard was largely kept quiet and allowed the opportunity to put himself forward as Man Utd’s natural central playmaker to pass him by.

In just 10 competitive games this season, Van Gaal has used Mata, Adnan Januzaj, Memphis Depay, Wayne Rooney, Ander Herrera and even Marouane Fellaini in the position, indicating that he is yet to find a solution he is truly satisfied with. 

"I want a second striker more than a midfielder in the No. 10 position,” the Dutchman explained, as per Rob Dawson of the Manchester Evening News. “That is why Adnan [Januzaj] got his chance and he scored. What more does a trainer or manager want?” Well, seemingly much more, because just two weeks after Januzaj’s goalscoring No. 10 display against Aston Villa he was shipped off on loan to Borussia Dortmund.

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But Mata’s failure, in particular, to succeed in such a role raises questions over his presence and capacity to fulfil a brief synonymous with his billing as a pure playmaker. He may no longer be that player.

Of course, Mata isn’t the most orthodox of right-wingers. He is something of a false right-winger, cutting inside off the flank just as often—if not more often—than he stays wide and plays on the overlap. It’s primarily why Van Gaal has favoured Antonio Valencia at right-back over the past year or so, with the Ecuadorian providing width where Mata doesn’t.

"Every manager has his own way to work and obviously with him it's different than with any other manager," Mata revealed when asked about the demands of working under Van Gaal, per David McDonnell of the Daily Mirror. "He said when he arrived it was going to be difficult, especially at the beginning. But I think it is about time and getting used to his ­technical way of working—the number of meetings, the training and the games.”

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It’s true that Mata is working harder than ever under Van Gaal, and he has succeeded in changing the nature of his game to a certain extent. The Spaniard is now more aware of his defensive duties than he ever was at Chelsea or during Moyes’ ill-fated time at Old Trafford, and it looks to be benefiting his game as a whole—scoring and assisting three times so far this term, making him United’s most productive figure.

In fact, in terms of assists, Mata is behind only David Silva as the Premier League’s most productive player (tallying 38 assists in four years to his compatriot’s 43). Indeed, the Spaniard has become the attacking hub of Man Utd’s front line, even if that isn’t always acknowledged or highlighted.

At Old Trafford this season, it has been about Rooney, Memphis, David De Gea, Luke Shaw and pretty much just about everyone other than Mata, but the case of his development under Van Gaal makes for an interesting subplot.