Record signing Juan Mata could feature for Manchester United when the champions try to get their floundering Premier League campaign back on track against Cardiff City at Old Trafford on Tuesday, 27 January, 2014.
The 25-year-old Spain playmaker held his first news conference on Monday as a United player since his £37.1 million move from Chelsea at the weekend and it was announced he would wear the Number 8 shirt.
Mata’s signing has raised hopes of a turnaround at United who are down in seventh spot, 14 points behind leaders Arsenal and six off the Champions League places.
Manager David Moyes said Mata had trained with his new teammates and that he would decide on Tuesday whether to pick the midfielder against bottom club Cardiff.
Moyes added that injured trio Wayne Rooney, Robin van Persie and Marouane Fellaini were back in training, raising the prospect of a four-way boost for the club.
The Scot was delighted to have bought Mata, saying he had doubts the club could pull the transfer off.
“I’m thrilled”, Moyes told reporters. “I got wind of it a month or two ago that it could be a possibility and never believed we could pull it off. When we got the sniff there was a chance Juan could be available we went after it right away”.
-Source:Reuters.