If captain Roderick Miranda has his way, Melbourne Victory will give Juan Mata whatever he wants to ensure the Spanish maestro plays on at the club.
Miranda is also adamant coach Arthur Diles is the man to lead the club forward after Victory’s A-League Men season ended in Saturday night’s 1-0 elimination final loss to Sydney FC.
Mata, 38, notched 13 assists and five goals, winning multiple games off his own boot over the season.
But the magical Spaniard is yet to decide whether he will continue at Victory and told AAP this week he will take time to consider his future.
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“First of all, I hope that he keeps playing. Second, I hope it’s with us,” Miranda said. “Because I think he still has something — not to prove, he has nothing to prove to anybody — but he still has something that he can show us.
“For the fans, for everybody that loves football, he should keep playing for us, but in the end, it’s his decision.
“I know this year was really important for him. He felt really happy with us on the pitch, off the pitch.
“In the end, it will be his decision, but if you would ask me, I’ll just put a paper in front of him and say ‘sign’ and put whatever he wants.”
Diles understandably also hopes his superstar plays on.
“I was hoping we’d give him more game time so he can keep thinking about it. Now he’s going to start thinking about it as of tonight, unfortunately,” Diles said.
“No discussions with Juan. He knows how we feel, he knows how the club feels, and we know what his intentions are at the moment in terms of giving himself time and space to come up with whatever decision he sees fit.
“Whether that’s his last game or not, I don’t know. I hope it’s not, not just for our sake as a club, but for his sake because I think he’s still got a lot to offer.”
Off-contract Diles is adamant he is the man for Victory but may have to wait on a decision on his future, having reached last season’s Grand Final and the finals this year without snagging silverware.
“We’ll see what happens in the coming weeks,” Diles said. “You’d have to ask the boss [managing director Caroline Carnegie].”
When asked if he felt he was the man to lead Victory, Diles said: “I definitely do.
“I’m really proud of everything I’ve achieved so far. It comes with a lot of hard work, a lot of expectation, a lot of pressure.
“I’m very proud of everything I’ve done to date and moving forward I think there’s so much more in me, a lot of growth in me as well; as a person, as a coach.
“The off-season is going to be a good opportunity to do some personal development, some reflection, recharge batteries and make sure I improve as well.”
Miranda, who also hopes to play on, threw his support behind the 44-year-old boss.
“Of course. We had glimpses during the season that things can go really well,” he said. “His record in finals has been good. Tonight, we deserved to win. He’s still young, still in his first year-and-a-half, but he has a brilliant future ahead of him.”
