Barcelona have tried to sign Juan Mata three times

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His father and agent has revealed he’s come close to a move

Barcelona have tried to sign Juan Mata on three separate occasions, according to his father and agent Juan Manuel Mata Rodríguez.

There have often been rumors Barca were keen on Mata, and the Manchester United star’s dad has now revealed his son has had chances to move to the Camp Nou.

“Indeed, as he is a player who has a DNA very similar to that [Barcelona’s style] football.

“I agree with the Spanish national team, with colleagues of that style, because there were three occasions to sign for Barcelona.

“The first one was when he was at Valencia. Then when he was transferred to Chelsea, they also thought of Juan and there was a third one recently where there were also possibilities.

“However, in all of them, Juan was lucky that he was in big clubs. This did not give that circumstance [to leave] because, thank God, he was in very important clubs.”

Source | VIP Deportivo.

Mata left Valencia in 2011 for Chelsea and helped the Blues win the FA Cup, Champions League and Europa League before joining Manchester United in 2014.

Source: barcablaugranes.com