Mata relishing playing with Van Persie and Rooney

Posted Sunday, February 09, 2014 by YAHOO Sport

Manchester United's club-record signing Juan Mata is thrilled to be playing alongside Robin van Persie and Wayne Rooney and has hailed their burgeoning relationship.

The trio all started together for the first time in the Red Devils' disappointing 2-1 loss at Stoke City last weekend, though Mata combined with Van Persie to create United's only goal.

The Spain international, who has settled quickly at Old Trafford, says playing with footballers of his new teammates' ilk is easy and he is keen to find his scoring touch in a United shirt.

"We have been working on things in training to try to link better and understand each other better," Mata told MUTV. "But when you talk about players like them, they are top players so it's easy to play with them. Robin, Wayne and Adnan [Januzaj] are all great players and it's a pleasure to play alongside them.

"I want to do my best to help the team. I think my main position on the pitch is to assist and to try to provide opportunities to the strikers. But if I can score then that is even better. It's true that in my career I have always scored a good amount of goals as a midfielder, and I will try to score as many goals as I can because it is the best feeling in the world."

The 25-year-old has had no problems adjusting to life in Manchester and says former Spain Under-21 international teammate David de Gea has helped him settle into his new surroundings.

"The welcome I've had from the lads, from the club, from the manager and the fans from the first day since I came here has been amazing," he continued. "I will never forget my debut at Old Trafford – seeing the fans in the warm up wearing my shirt, it was fantastic. Hopefully we can win as many games until the end of the season for them because they deserve that from us.

"David was very important for me coming here. The first week he was with me, almost all the time he was calling me to check I was okay and asking what I needed. I have known him since we were kids and I'm very happy to be here with him."