FILE PHOTO: Juan Mata after a game in 2022. Reuters/John Sibley/File Photo
(Reuters) - Spanish World Cup-winning midfielder Juan Mata has said he is relishing a long-awaited return to the pitch with Western Sydney Wanderers after arriving in Australia to join the A-League club on Saturday.
The former Manchester United and Chelsea playmaker has signed a one-year deal with the Alen Stajcic-coached Wanderers and is keen to play regularly after featuring for only 10 minutes with Japan's Vissel Kobe last season.
"I'm really eager to be on the pitch," the 36-year-old told Australian media.
"I was telling the coach I'm really looking forward to touch the ball again, to train with my new teammates and I feel good and confident that it's going to be a good season.
"I just want to enjoy football. I want to give my best for the team. Every single day in training, I want to bring high standards, professionalism and all my experience and knowledge in the game and, of course, I want to bring good football."
Mata has joined a Wanderers side that is among the best supported in the A-League but which has struggled to turn that backing into trophies in recent campaigns.
Wanderers won the A-League Premiership in their debut season in 2013 and claimed the Asian Champions League title a year later, but since then Western Sydney have struggled, finishing seventh in last season's 12-team domestic competition.
A decade without success has done little to dampen enthusiasm among the club's hard core fan base, however, and dozens of red-and-black clad supporters turned out at Sydney airport on Saturday to greet the 2010 World Cup winner.
"I love to play this game, and I'm still hungry to play," said Mata, who hopes to make his debut against Wanderers' bitter cross-city rivals Sydney FC on the A-League's opening day on Oct. 19.
"I've seen already the fans this morning and I can't wait for them to celebrate something – hopefully in the first game of the season, which I know is a big one."
(Reporting by Michael Church; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)
