A feast for the eyes!

I've been pretending football doesn't exist for a few days while all the photos of him standing next to an grinning idiot goon do the rounds.

I'm going to avoid all the pros/cons talk of letting the little man go, because god knows we've all heard enough of that.I just want to say thank you.

Thank you Juan Mata, for choosing to sign with us in the first place, for being the first genuinely exciting creative magician to sign for us since Arjen Robben.

And thank you Juan Mata, for, unlike the afore-mentioned t*sspot, being an absolute gent on and off the field, for doing everything for the club, for being a hard - worker who gave your all in every game, even when things weren't going your way. Thank you for choosing not to slag off Jose + Chelsea after we abandoned you like a stray pup.

Thank you for all the magic moments - countless wonderful passes, crosses and assists - you seemed to take more pleasure in setting up goals than scoring them.

On saying that - you did score some beauties, and thank you for scoring so many of them against Arsenal, Spurs, and 'sob' Manu\ U.

Thank you for having the best first touch in world football. Your ability to trap a dropping long ball 99% of the time was breathtaking.

Thank you for being damn handsome, obviously.

Thank you for working your little socks off against Barcelona and Bayern Munich in balls to the wall defensive games that clearly didn't suit you, and still having the strength, composure and skill to curl in a perfect corner for super Didier's header. And then doing the exact same thing a year later for Branislav against Benfica.

But most of all, thank you for changing the DNA of our club, for being the first piece in our puzzle. If, IF, Jose succeeds in his long term plan, if five years from now we are a team that can work hard and defend while, most importantly, playing attractive, magical, attacking football - we will look back to you as the point where it all started.

Let's hope Barcelona snap you up in the summer to replace Xavi. That would be nice.

Ollie, CFC, London