Juan Mata had the opportunity to say his farewell to Manchester United fans this week as he made his first Premier League start of the season in the club's penultimate home game.
Mata will leave Old Trafford as a free agent at the end of his contract, which expires at the end of June.
Since his 2014 arrival, the 34-year-old has been a popular figure outside Old Trafford, where he was seen signing autographs and posing for photos with fans more than 90 minutes after the final whistle against Brentford in the Manchester rain.
After signing a one-year contract deal last summer, Mata has spent the majority of the season on the bench. Since the beginning of 2018, his game time has steadily decreased.
However, the Spaniard's unexpected return to the starting lineup and shockingly impressive performance has fans wondering if he could have accomplished more as a United player following a club record £37.1 million transfer from Chelsea.
Despite winning consecutive Chelsea Player of the Year awards and being the best player on a team that won both the Champions League and the Europa League, Mata was deemed surplus to requirements by Jose Mourinho at Stamford Bridge.
Even now, there is little doubt that Mata is a gifted and astute goal scoring attacking midfielder in the mould of David Silva, a fellow Spaniard and former Valencia teammate.
Mata, a World Cup and European Championship winner with Spain in addition to his Chelsea triumphs, has arguably been under utilised at United. When the team should have been formed around him during his prime years of 2014 and 2015, he was frequently crammed in, as the club's scatter graph transfer strategy failed to create a coherent and complimentary group.