Player Profile: Getafe's Jaime Mata

Jaime Mata is a 32-year-old striker from Tres Cantos, a town just north of Madrid. He is currently playing in the Spanish capital for southern Madrid side Getafe,but has spent time at several clubs from across Spain on his way to LaLiga Santander level.

Getafe's Mata Shines in La Liga

Mata’s career started out with local Tres Cantos side GalácticoPegaso and he represented them in the Tercera– the fourth level of Spain’s footballing pyramid – as a 20-year-old, while studying business and international commerce at university. GalácticoPegaso no longer exists, but Mata remembers his roots and nowadays works on several social and footballing projects in Tres Cantos.

His good performances with GalácticoPegaso at the time caught the attention of fellow Madrid side Rayo Vallecano and Mata played for Rayo’s B team as well as being loaned to Socuéllamos and Móstoles.

In 2012, at the age of 23, Mata moved to the other side of the country to continue his career, even though he still wasn’t convinced he could make a living from football. He moved to Catalonia to join Lleida Esportiu in the Segunda B – Spain’s third tier. Even though he had offers from clubs in the second tier, he felt that Lleida Esportiu had a good project that would allow him to flourish.

In his two seasons at Lleida Esportiu, Mata certainly flourished as he scored 17 goals in 2012/13 and another 17 in 2013/14. This earned him another step up the footballing ladder as he then joined second pision side Girona CF, netting 12 and 9 goals for them in 2014/15 and 2015/16 respectively.

In the summer of 2016, Mata made another move, this time to Real Valladolid. They were also in LaLiga Smartbank and he had a difficult first season with just six goals.

But, in 2017/18, Mata’s numbers exploded. He scored 35 total goals in 2017/18, helping Real Valladolid earn promotion to the top pision through the playoffs and making him the top scorer of LaLiga SmartBank.

His season was so good that Mata didn’t stay with Real Valladolid for their first campaign back in LaLiga Santander. Getafe CF had spotted his talent and wanted Mata in their squad, with his energy when it comes to pressing and his ability to hold off defenders perfectly fitting coach José Bordalás’ style of play.

In his two full seasons so far with Getafe CF, Mata netted 16 total goals in 2018/19 and 14 in 2019/20, but he has offered so much more than just goalscoring ability.

It has been a perfect marriage as Mata and Getafe CF have grown season after season, even qualifying for and going on a run in the Europa League in 2019/20.

His performances have been so good that Getafe's Mata was even called up to the Spain squad for La Roja’s two fixtures in March of 2019. He came on in the 89th minute of a 2-1 victory over Norway on March 23rd 2019 for his one and only Spain appearance. “It was very nice and a dream come true,” he said. Mata, though, has never been called up by Spain again.

His story is a unique and inspirational one and one of a player very gradually climbing up the rungs of the footballing ladder. No transfer fee has ever been paid for this player who has always been moving from different clubs to another on loan or as a free agent, but he has proven his worth time and time again.