Juan Mata desperate to win the Premier League after missing out with Chelsea and says Louis van Gaal can secure title for Manchester United

Mata has never won the Premier League title during his four years in England but says Van Gaal's 'attacking philosophy' can bring success back to Old Trafford

Juan Mata is targeting the Premier League title (Getty Images)

Juan Mata believes he can end his Premier League heartache with the help of Louis van Gaal after setting his sights on a first title success with Manchester United this season.

The 27-year-old is yet to win the Premier League title since arriving in England in 2011. Chelsea last won the title in 2009/10 under Carlo Ancelotti, and missed out on top honours when Mata was at Stamford Bridge before agreeing to sell the Spaniard to rivals United in January 2014.

A season later, the Blues were crowned Premier League champions once again, whereas United finished fourth with Mata proving to be one of their more impressive players throughout an up-and-down campaign.

Having joined United for a then club record £37.1m – a fee that has since been eclipsed by the £59.7m deal to sign Angel Di Maria last summer – Mata struggled to make the immediate impact that United fans had hoped for, but he showed his class under Van Gaal last season and the midfielder has explained by the Dutch manager is capable of leading United to a first title success since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013.

“I think he’s [Van Gaal] good,” said Mata. “Obviously he has a lot of experience. He has character.

“He has his philosophy and he follows that philosophy until the end. It’s good for the players. The football that he wants us to play is an attractive football and I love that football so I think it’s just a matter of time.

“We have this first season achieved a Champions League spot and then hopefully next season we will do better and win more.”

Mata has been in Mexico to help with a Unicef programme with young children (Getty Images)

With Chelsea, Mata claimed both the Champions League and Europe League, while the Blues secured the FA Cup in 2011/12, but it’s the Premier League that Mata clearly has his eyes locked on.

“What I want is to win the Premier League. I was lucky enough to win so many trophies (at Chelsea) but I didn’t win the Premier League and it’s something that I have in my mind,” he said. “I want to win it and I want to play good football with Manchester United, to show that we are still there and fighting for every title.

“With good football I think we can do it. We need to win more games. I think we have a good team. Obviously I’m sure the club will try and sign a few players to make the squad even better.

“I think we have first-level world-class players and a very good manager so we have everything to succeed. We have to do it now and bring the club back up to where it belongs.”

Mata has failed to win the Premier League since arriving in England (Getty Images)

Following Ferguson’s retirement, former Everton manager David Moyes was selected as the man to take over at Old Trafford, but his nine months in charge can only be described as a disaster as the club slipped out of the Champions League places and finished an embarrassing seventh place in the Premier League table having won the title the season before.

David Moyes (left) poses with Juan Mata

However, Moyes did make the move to sign Mata, and the Spaniard is “grateful” to the current Real Sociedad manager for doing so and adds that he was unlucky not to succeed during his short time at Old Trafford.

“He was very unlucky at the club,” added Mata.

“I think he is a great man, I am grateful to him. But he was unlucky because we didn’t get the results we should have and we changed again.

“After so many years of Sir Alex Ferguson, it was always going to be difficult for any manager to come and to do the same because it is almost impossible to win as many trophies as he did.

“So I think it was mix of everything but I think any manger would have faced problems because the expectations were very high after Ferguson.”