MANCHESTER UNITED HAVE offered Juan Mata a new contract but the attacking midfielder has other options, according to his father.
Mata’s contract at Old Trafford is set to expire at the end of the season, with the former Spain international having been at the club since 2014.
The 30-year-old has won the Europa League, FA Cup and Carabao Cup with the Red Devils but has only started 13 Premier League games this term.
Mata’s father, though, says a new deal is on the table for his son, who played for Chelsea before joining United.
“Manchester United have offered to renew us, we are very happy,” he told Cadena SER.
“But there are proposals from Champions League teams.
“Spain, maybe, but today is not the day to talk, it is not yet decided.”
Pep Guardiola confirmed last week he made an attempt to sign Mata from Valencia when he was in charge of Barcelona.
But the player’s father confirmed Mata would not join Guardiola at United’s rivals Manchester City, nor would he sign for Liverpool.
“City? It would not be the ideal option,” Mata senior added.
“There are two options that do not [appeal]: Liverpool and City.
We have to respect the Manchester United fans, he is held very dear here.”
Mata himself, who has been linked with moving to Barca on a free transfer, has opted not to give any update on the status of contract talks with United.
“I don’t think right now is a good moment to speak about it,” he told the Manchester Evening News this week ahead of facing Barcelona in the Champions League.
“Because I prefer to put the team before myself and what we are going to face now is important enough to be focused only on that.
“There have been some rumours about myself and other team-mates over the last week, so I’m not the one who is going to put more questions or raise more comments with what I say.
So, I prefer to put the team before me and focus on the important task that we have ahead, which is Barcelona. And that’s it. I’m sure the fans prefer that because we all want to beat Barcelona, we want to have our heads focused on Barcelona.
“And, again, I don’t want to raise any more noise [as], to be fair, in the last weeks there has been quite a lot.”
Subscribe to our new podcast, The42 Rugby Weekly, here:
