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Juan Mata is backing himself to help underpin United’s goal account this season.

Reds boss Louis van Gaal is putting faith in captain Wayne Rooney to be the 25-goal man to lead the attack but the Dutchman is relying on his midfield department to chip in an improve United’s goal output.

Mata believes his scoring background means he will be a double figures provider to help take the burden off Rooney as the Reds look to boost a Premier League tally from last term that was their second worst in over two decades.

“I always try to score. I have always done that. I used to play as a striker when I was a kid and every team I played for I had a good goals record and it is the same at United too.”

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When Mata was signed for a then club record fee of £37.1m in the 2014 January transfer window from Chelsea by David Moyes he took nine matches to get off the mark but ended the campaign with a six goals in six appearances flourish.

Last season under Van Gaal he scored 10 in 35 appearances.

“This season I will aim again to score a good number and to help the team with assists and goals. I had a 20 goal season at Chelsea and 14 another with Valencia as well so I have always been lucky enough to score a good number for a midfielder.

“I always try to score more than 10 goals in a season. I have nearly always done that and I think that is a good number for a midfielder.

“Last season I tried to score as many as I could and it is always a big part of my game. I will try again to be be in and around the box and score again.”

In United’s pre-season tour matches in America Mata has been playing in the wide right midfield role and the Spaniard is happy to continue in the role.

“I used to play on the right and I used to play as a number ten and on the left. Right now I am very comfortable to be playing on the right to be fair,” he said.

“I try to cut inside with either Antonio (Valencia) or Matteo (Darmian) overlapping me and I feel very comfortable there, trying to link with the number ten and the striker.

“I have faced a lot of midfield competition with the national team and at Chelsea but definitely we have a very good midfield at United now. The way we are playing with two central midfielders we have a very compact unit.

“We have signed some very good players. We have a good mix now of young players and experienced ones. So we have a very well balanced squad. Maybe there are a few more coming I don’t know but I am sure it will be big enough and good enough to face all the competitions.”

See pictures from United's win over Barcelona below