Juan Mata vs David Silva vs Santi Cazorla

Juan Mata, David Silva and Santi Cazorla are all considered to be amongst the best in their position in the Premier League and even in the world. All are undoubtedly extremely talented but we're going to take a look at what happens when they're compared.

Juan Mata began his career rather surprisingly at Real Madrid where he represented the B team before joining Valencia due to a clause in his contract. In his first season at the club (2007/2008) Mata was voted the best young player and he went on to win the Copa Del Rey with his team in that season too. He played for Valencia 174 times over 4 season before making the £23.5m switch to Stamford Bridge. Since joining Chelsea he has managed a remarkable achievement in scoring on his debut in the Premier League, FA Cup, Champions League, Capital One Cup and Club World Cup. In his first season he picked up Chelsea's player of the season award, another indicator as to the impact he had. Since his first season, Mata has arguably pushed on to the next level, overshadowing star signing Eden Hazard and becoming an integral part of the Chelsea team.

David Silva made a professional debut for second division Spanish League team SD Eibar in the 2004/2005 season. After a relatively successful spell, he returned to parent club Valencia before having a season on loan at Celta Vigo. By the time Silva returned to Valencia in 2006 he had won himself a reputation as a young star and began to get into the Valencia side. Silva went from strength to strength and developed as a player before moving to Manchester City in the summer of 2010. He started well, bagging a winning goal at Blackpool and plenty of assists however many claimed he was homesick. These reports proved to be wrong and he went on to enjoy a very successful spell for the club, impressing and gaining many fans in the process. His first season in England, similar to Mata ended up being a very good one and he carried on from there in the 2011/2012 season to win the title with Manchester City in dramatic fashion. So far this season he hasn't been as influential but seems to be coming back into form after being halted briefly by an injury. 

Cazorla's story began at Spanish club Real Oviedo before he moved to Villareal after the former ran into huge financial troubles. Shortly after he moved again, but this time to Recreativo, however in his contract, Villareal had a clause where they could buy him back for 1.2m Euros. After spending a season at Recreativo, Cazorla returned to Villareal after they sought to take advantage of the clause. He made real headlines in August 2008, claiming that giants Real Madrid were after him. He went on to reject them and decided to remain at Villareal, claiming he wanted to stay put as he was only young and getting started in the national team. In the Summer of 2011, Cazorla 'upped sticks' again and this time to Malaga. He enjoyed a very successful season, finishing the season as the club's second top scorer and attracted interest from a number of clubs. This led to him eventually moving to Arsenal after Malaga hit money problems of their own. Since joining the North London club, Cazorla has had a massive impact, amassing many fans and admirers alike, whilst netting 11 goals in the process, a remarkable achievement in his debut season, which is not even over yet. 



If you take a look at how they have performed in the Premier League this season:

I have shown a stat where a player has the best result in green, second best in yellow and third best in red. 

In my opinion, these stats are very balanced, all three players almost cancel each other out. It is clear to see that Cazorla and Mata are hugely on top in terms of goals and that is a vital part of their game. If you look at the chances created then you'll see it is a very close run thing with Silva coming out on top with 73 in total. I do however think that Silva's winning stat in chances created is cancelled out by his lack of goals in comparison to the other two. Whilst they don't create as many chances, they are only just behind but at the same time manage lots more goals. Goals certainly isn't the most important thing for a midfielder but it does provide a huge asset for a team and takes a lot of pressure off the strikers too. All three have exceptionally high pass success rates and they can't really be separated there due to only a marginal difference. 

Overall I would have to favour Juan Mata as the better player, however that is only my opinion. If I had the choice, I would rather have Mata in my team. I have based this decision on the fact that he has goals in his game whilst maintaining the ability to create chances for other as well and I feel he is the better overall player due to the fact he is able to play out wide effectively. Cazorla is in my second place, although he ran Mata very closely. Cazorla did seem to come on top in the stats, however purely based on my opinion, Mata is more versatile and is getting better and better every game. At such a young age (24) Mata has a long way to go and will only improve from here on in. Silva is undoubtedly an exceptional player too and in all honesty all three players are very close in terms of ability. One thing not working in David Silva's favour is his form in the current campaign. Whilst he had a very good season last time out, he has struggled to live up to it so far this season, however I have no doubts he'll rediscover himself, as they say 'form is temporary, class is permenant'! Regardless of who's better, if Spain ever have any problems then how about these 3 replacements in the Spain squad, not bad back ups are they!

Who do you think is better, Juan Mata, David Silva or Santi Cazorla? Tell us in the comments section below!

Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it!