Ex-Blue opens up on how one player acted as an “agent” to convince him to join the club | OneFootball

Former Chelsea star Juan Mata has revealed how Fernando Torres acted like an “agent” and convinced him to join the club back in 2011.

The Blues signed Mata from Spanish side Valencia for £23.5m, which compared to today’s market seems an absolute bargain, having splashed out £50m to sign Torres from Liverpool earlier that year.

Mata established himself as a fan favourite at Stamford Bridge and was part of the side that won the club’s first Champions League in 2012, and the Europa League the following year.

Mata recalls how Torres convinced him to join the club

The skilful Spaniard should have been at Chelsea much longer, but was inexplicably frozen out of the squad by then manager Jose Mourinho in 2014, and subsequently joined Manchester United.

The 36-year-old has been speaking about how his move to Chelsea came to be, and revealed his international team-mate Torres played a huge role.

Mata has opened up on how Torres convinced him to join Chelsea.

“He called me during a pre-season I was doing in Asia and said ‘I know they want you, the coach has spoken to me, you’re going to be very good, we need a player like you, you’re going to play, you’re going to make a difference”, Mata said in quotes picked up by Football London.

“He acted as an agent! I had a lot of affection and respect for him, so I let him advise me. He and his family helped me a lot in London. We have a great relationship.

“Everyone knows what Chelsea means in the modern era, great players.

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“After four years at Valencia, I wanted a change of culture, country and language, and the club needed to find a way out of their financial problems, it was a deal that suited all parties.”

Mata made a total of 135 appearances for the club, scoring 33 goals and providing 57 assists, the most important being the corner which Didier Drogba headed home to equalise in the 2012 Champions League final.

It’s a shame how it ended for the Spain international, but Chelsea fans will always have fond memories of Mata and what he did for the club.