Rafa Benitez: Chelsea sold their best player Juan Mata to Manchester United

Rafa Benitez and Juan Mata

Rafael Benitez took a swipe at Chelsea in the build up to his Napoli side’s Europa League clash with Swansea, suggesting they will rue selling Juan Mata to Manchester United.

Benitez endured a temperamental spell at Chelsea last season as he had an interim spell as manager, leading the Blues to Europa League glory despite a frosty relationship with the fans at Stamford Bridge.

The Spaniard left the club in the summer to be replaced by Jose Mourinho, a manager with whom he has never seen eye-to-eye with, with the Portuguese tactician deciding Chelsea’s player of the year for the past two seasons was not going to fit into his style of play.

Speaking prior to Napoli’s Europa League tie in Wales, Benitez told reporters, “I am not here to talk about Chelsea.

“But Juan was their best player for the last two years. That is it, you can see that. But I am not here to analyse what they did.”

Napoli were unfortunate to be knocked out of the Champions League in the group stages after recording 12 points, double the amount Zenit St Petersburg managed to qualify from their group with, but will now have to go through the Thursday night gauntlet, starting with Swansea tonight.

Juan Mata has created 13 chances in his first four appearances for Manchester United, the same amount that Fernando Torres has managed all season for Chelsea.