TheSportsCampus

Outspoken Spanish winger, Juan Mata has completed his £26 million move from sunny Valencia to considerably cooler London to join Chelsea Football Club. The 23-year old, who has been capped 11 times by his national side, has signed a 5-year contract with the London giants and joins fellow Spaniards Fernando Torres and new summer signing Oriol Romeu. Mata reportedly turned down offers from Arsenal and Tottenham, declaring he wanted to move to a club which were in serious contention for silverware year-in year-out.

Mata has a good goal scoring record, already having found the back of the net 4 times in international matches and scored 43 times in 179 appearances during his 4-years with Valencia. Mata is a product of the Real Madrid youth academy and graduated in 2007 but was forced to move clubs to find regular first team action. He made his name at Valencia taking over the reins from club legend Vicente.

Speaking to the club's official website Mata said, "Right from the first moment there have been good feelings all around me. Training has been great and the players are a great group to train with. Valencia was a big club anyway but I have left to join a bigger club and it is all about the opportunity to win trophies and I have that here."

He shared how his new coach Andre Villas-Boas plans to use his extravagant talent, "The plan is that I can play on either flank or even in the middle playing in between the lines of midfield and attack. I like to keep the ball and use it well, I am an attacking player and above all I like to set up goals and score them also."

The ambitious youngster has his eye on silverware already, stating, "I want to adapt as quickly as possible to my new surroundings, my colleagues and this league, and I would love to win a trophy in my first season. If it can be the Premier League then great."

Mata's signing will undoubtedly cast a shadow on the future of French winger Florent Malouda at the club. The 31-year old has been with Chelsea since 2007 and despite a rocky start to his Blues career, he has thrived over the last few season, averaging close to 50 appearances and contributing goals in double digits in each of his last two terms. Malouda scored the winning goal against West Brom last weekend at Stamford Bridge, but with 2-years still left on his contract, it will be interesting to see if he starts looking at other avenues come January.

Alternatively, Mata can also be deployed as an advanced playmaker in central midfield, a role Frank Lampard has fulfilled with aplomb during his Chelsea career. However, Lampard had an injury blighted 2010-11 campaign and there are worries surrounding his ability to be the box-to-box midfielder he once was. Chances are Villas-Boas will employ him as one of the two sitting men in the middle of the park giving Mata the chance to bomb forward. All that could change though if Chelsea do manage to break Tottenham's resolve in not parting with Luka Modric. The Croatian midfielder's experience of playing in this league for a few seasons and his natural creativity would make him the ideal man to feed the likes of Torres, Drogba and Anelka in front of goal.

Mata is available for selection this week against Norwich, and having trained with the club over the last week should be fit enough to start. It will be interesting to see where he is deployed!