Juan Mata Joins Manchester United

It had been coming for some time, Juan Mata has left Chelsea. Where he went no one saw coming. Instead of being sold to a team outside of the Premier League he was sold to "rivals" Manchester United.

Mata had a great 3 seasons at Chelsea, 18 goals in 82 appearances, a Champions League title, FA Cup, and Europa League title. The arrivals of Oscar, Hazard, Willian, and Schurrle saw Mata forced to the bench for most of this season. There were talks that Mata didn't fit Mourinho's system and that might be right, but I personally feel he wasn't given enough time in the first team to fully adapt to the system.

Mata going to United is a sign that the club is committed to at least finishing in the top 4, splashing a club record 37.1 million pounds on the Spaniard. Mata will surely be hoping that going to United and playing regularly will land him a spot in the Spain squad that heads to Brazil for the World Cup.

Fans of the club will surely be hoping he will have a Mesut Ozil like effect, where his signing reinvigorates the fan base and players and lifting them into form.

Where Mata will play in the team is another mystery as his preferred spot is the number 10 role that is currently occupied by the teams current number 10, Wayne Rooney. My prediction is Mata will play on the left or right and drift into the middle.

The signing of Mata will likely see the talk that David Moyes can't sign world class players subside, but unless he signs 1 or 2 more world class/quality players those talks will again start up.

The Boot Room Video Blogs

Hey everyone, just wanted to let you know you can check my buddy Nate and I out on YouTube at youtube.com/clsoccer2012 making our weekly video blog for The Boot Room, my more professional site!

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Potential 2013/2014 Season Breakout Stars

Great young talent is the key to the development of our sport. While established names are fun to watch and discuss, the young talent of the world can be just as fun to talk about. Everyone knows about the young stars of today that have already made a name for themselves such as Neymar, Mario Gotze, Eden Hazard, and Oscar, but there is a plethora of young talent that you probably wouldn't pay attention to unless they were playing at a big club or on big stages. Here we will highlight a few.

Julian Draxler – Julian Draxler could be the next great German attacking midfielder. This season at Schalke he put up astounding numbers, in 36 appearances for the German club he netted 11 goals and assisted on 3. Now this may not seem like much, but given the fact he is only 19 years old and thrusted himself into the starting line-up for Schalke, he shows lots of promise going forward. Draxler is more than capable of using both feet, is creative on the ball, a great passer (he completed roughly 82% of his passes this season), and is as lethal a finisher as midfielders go. Draxler is one to watch for this upcoming season, and I don't expect him to stay at Schalke for long if he keeps improving his performances.

Raheem Sterling – Outside of England you may not find many people that rate Raheem Sterling very high. Sterling found himself in the Premier League spotlight after he made a move to Liverpool from the QPR youth team at the tender age of 17. Sterling shows lots of promise, a speedy, crafty winger with great agility. The downside to Sterling is that we haven't seen enough of him in the first team for Liverpool, as he usually comes on as a substitute. In 31 matches for Liverpool this season, he only had 2 goals and 2 assists. That isn't that impressive for a player of his potential and its hard to give other stats for him because of his lack of playing time, but what is impressive is how much he improves each and every game. I see Sterling breaking into the starting line-up consistently next season and seeing his output improve in turn.

Deulofeu – His name may be hard to pronounce, but his quality isn't hard to recognize. Deulofeu looks like he could become another one of Barcelona's, La Masia, prodigies. Speed, ball control, vision, great passing. Deulofeu possess all of these qualities, qualities that a winger needs to have to be effective at the top level. His chance to get permanently promoted to Barcelona from Barcelona B seems to have dwindled a bit with the addition of Neymar, but a player with his potential won't be playing in a second tier league for long.

Marc-Andre ter Stegen – A lot of us like to talk about field players as they are usually more exciting to talk about, but we can't forget about the men between the sticks. Ter Stegen is one of the most, if not the most, promising young goal keeper out there today and some in Germany don't think it will be too long before he can find his way to more first team appearances for the National Team. At the age of 21 years old it seems like ter Stegen already has amazing skills that many veteran keepers took years to develop.

The Evolution of Gareth Bale

From young prospect to marquee name, Gareth Bale has quickly become a household name for any soccer fan. Having a breakout season in 2009-10, Bale helped his club Tottenham Hotspur reach the Champions League and in the 2010-11 season Bale showed his worth, providing an inspiring performance in the Champions League against Inter.

A left back turned winger, Bale has excelled in his current role. His new found brilliance while at left winger has drawn comparisons to Cristiano Ronaldo for Bale. Bale and Ronaldo play very similar games, both like to be on the ball, take on defenders, and use their exceptional pace and agility to burn the opposition. Both players are deadly scoring threats and the main focus of any game-plan for opposing managers.

Bale struggled to find first team time his first few years at Tottenham, struggling with injury and being left out of the team in favor of Benoit Assou-Ekotto. Tottenham manager at the time, Harry Redknapp, finally picked Bale when Assou-Ekotto went down with injury, and Bale took the chance and ran with it. Fast forward a few seasons later and Bale is now on every major teams radar.

Linked with a move to Real Madrid, Bale could potentially replace want away star Cristiano Ronaldo at the Bernabeu. The prospect of playing at a big club like Madrid could sway him to leave White Hart Lane even though his contract there runs until 2016. Can you imagine Bale replacing Ronaldo and Neymar potentially joining Barcelona? That could be a new rivalry for the ages.

But for now we get to witness Bale's brilliance while at Tottenham. This season he has methodically guided his Spurs to Champions League contention. He seems to get better with each game, his IQ for the game seemingly increasing every match. This is scary seeing as Bale is only 23 years old and already one of the best in the world. If Bale chooses to stay at Tottenham, he could quite possibly be the reason Tottenham bring in enough world class players to be a Champions League contender for years. I personally hope Bale stays at Tottenham, I want to see the Gareth Bale era begin in EPL, because this player has all the qualities and talents to be the best in the world and he is well on his way to that now.  

What do you think? Could Gareth Bale be the best in the world? Should he leave Tottenham?

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