Juan Mata, Where does he rank?

first of all, Congrats to Juan for playing his 100th game for us last week against WBA, time truly has flown by as I still remember the joy when we signed him after us Chelsea fans had been crying out for him all summer. I believe we paid 23m for him, a bargain for sure as he is now our most influential player and our deserving number 10.

After playing his 101st game, Mata's Stats look very much like this:
Apps 101
Goals 29
Assists 49
Goal/Game Ratio .28
While Zola (incomplete but the best I could find) Stats look like this:
Apps 312
Goals 80
Goal/Game ratio .26

If you add in Mata's assists to make it Goal+Assist/Game ratio it becomes .77, which is very, very good. I cannot find an accurate number of assists for Zola otherwise I would do the same for him.

Now, I want to know where, after 100 games and at only the age of 24, does Mata rank among the greats. My personal top 10 of all time would be something like this:
10. Bentley/Greaves
9. Tambling
8. Cech
7. Bonetti
6. Osgood
5. Harris
4. Drogba
3. Terry
2. Lampard
1. Zola

You can vote in the poll and throw in your opinion, also if you think my top 10 are completely wrong, feel free you yell and scream at me.

This was gonna come up sooner than later.

I honestly didn't expect much from Mata when we initially signed him and I didn't either for his first few games.

That has all changed. Stats aside, the passion he shows on the pitch is fantastic.

That said, it is still premature IMO to include Mata. He would definitely make it in time though.

As for your list It's good but personally, I rate Cech and Drogba higher and Terry a bit lower. I'm shocked you didn't include Torres.

Yea I intend to answer this as well Kicky but I need time to gather what I want to say and how I want to say it and make sure I don't leave anything out, but I'm doing something else atm. Will answer eventually

Ever since Mata joined I think everyone knew he'd be one of the greats tbh.

I think he's already pretty close to scratching the top 10 simply because of his ability a part from Zola, we haven't really had a player like him. If he stays at the club he'll hit top 5 for sure, at least. His passion is another reason this thread had to happen as it is unmatched tbh.

I rate Terry so high as he is the best leader we have ever Had IMO and after the top 6 it's more fluid in where they sit.

so where do you rank him, top 15, 20?

Kick wrote:Ever since Mata joined I think everyone knew he'd be one of the greats tbh.

I think he's already pretty close to scratching the top 10 simply because of his ability a part from Zola, we haven't really had a player like him. If he stays at the club he'll hit top 5 for sure, at least. His passion is another reason this thread had to happen as it is unmatched tbh.

I rate Terry so high as he is the best leader we have ever Had IMO and after the top 6 it's more fluid in where they sit.

so where do you rank him, top 15, 20?

Have to agree with Soul that he's not as close to the Top 10 for me as he is for you. I'd have even Pat Nevin above him at this point if I'm honest, in terms of flair and legend status at the club. If he stays though, I can see him moving up the charts easily

I suppose I am a bit of a Mata fanboy.

Should of followed AVB to Spurs, his talent is wasted at Chelsea. Oh well, should just make Mata the coach if the only qualification is "making Torres play better."

Motogp69 wrote:Should of followed AVB to Spurs, his talent is wasted at Chelsea. Oh well, should just make Mata the coach if the only qualification is "making Torres play better."

Wasted?

Wasted how?

Don't even bother, that post is about as accurate as Torres'.

Silly troll

This reminds me of Robben and Duff too.. I think he needs to stay a bit longer... but I'm pretty sure that he will easily be one of the top 5 in the club.