Juan Mata’s relationship with Jose Mourinho had sunk so low that he had no option but to leave Chelsea after the pair stopped speaking.

The Spain midfielder cost Manchester United £37.1million in January and has revealed there was ‘no dialogue’ with his manager at Stamford Bridge.

It marked a sorry end for Mata, who was widely adored in west London and had scooped the club’s fans’ and players’ Player of the Year awards the previous season.

Jose Mourinho (left) and Juan Mata weren't on speaking terms before the latter left Chelsea last season

Spaniard Mata eventually left for Manchester United in a £37.1million move back in January

Manager Louis van Gaal has drawn lavish praise from Mata in an interview with El Pais on Monday

‘For better or for worse, we had no relationship, there was no dialogue,’ Mata told El Pais. ‘I was not happy, but always gave the most respected and my colleagues. You never know what will happen in life.’

For a man usually so reserved, it is a damning character assassination.

The 26-year-old hasn’t properly clicked into gear at Old Trafford just yet, although Louis van Gaal has found it easier to engineer more consistent performances than predecessor David Moyes.

Mata – in direct contrast to his forthright criticism for Mourinho – praised the Dutchman highly as United attempt to claw their way back into the Champions League.

‘He [Van Gaal] has so much experience and I can learn a lot from him. He’s tough when he has to be.

‘He says things in a firm way, intensely, but then he’s somebody who is very close with the players. He really likes to talk with us, to ask us what we think about the exercises that we do in training.’

They are comments which could be construed as more than a thinly-veiled dig at Mourinho.

Mata has won the players' and fans' Player of the Year awards at Chelsea before leaving the club

Spain Under 21 midfielder Ander Herrera (centre) lives on the same street as Mata in the North West

Mata does appear to have settled in the north – labelling Manchester as ‘the real England’. Hardly surprising, given he lives on the same street as Spanish team-mates David de Gea and Ander Herrera.

‘De Gea told me that at first it was difficult because I did not know the language,’ he added. ‘When I got [here, he] helped me a lot and now we take a hand [to] Ander, with whom I have a very close relationship because our way of interpreting life is similar.

‘We spend almost every day together.’

It was a candid interview, in which the former Valencia playmaker also asserted that he's undervalued in his homeland after playing just once for Spain this calendar year.

'Maybe I feel my values more in England than in Spain,' he added. 'Now I have not [been] mentioned, but am not looking for excuses or justifications.'

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