MELBOURNE, Australia -- Giovanni Savarese says he has spoken with Juan Mata about another season at AAMI Park, viewing the 38-year-olds's playing status as the most important thing remaining to sort in Melbourne Victory's offseason. The new head coach, however, is happy to leave the decision with the Spanish superstar, content that the Spain legend won't leave Victory hanging.
Moving down to Melbourne after a frustrating year with the Western Sydney Wanderers, Mata took the A-League Men by storm in 2025-26, awarded the Johnny Warren Medal as the league's best player as he racked up five goals and 13 assists and won several games off his own boot.
Only having signed a one-year deal, Mata left his future up in the air following the conclusion of Victory's campaign, saying in a speech at their end-of-season awards that he would take some time with family to determine his future.
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Victory officials have repeatedly stated that they would give Mata the space he needed to make his decision without undue pressure on their part, and Savarese, who replaced Arthur Diles as coach during the offseason, reiterated that stance in his first conversation with Melbourne media on Tuesday.
"I have had conversations with him," Savarese said. "Of course, the club wants him to come back. It's the desire not only from the club, but from me as well, from the coaching staff. He's a class act in everything, not only as a player, but as a human being.
"We want to make sure this decision is made by him; he has the right to make the decision, to decide if he wants to have one more year with us. Of course, we are pushing in a little way to make that happen, hopefully, but I do think, in the end, it will work out the way he wants. And I think we need to respect that.
"We're giving him time because he deserves the time, that's how much we want him to be here.
"I'll continue to stay in communication with him, hoping that things are going to work out well."
Mata's arrival at Victory last year came on Sept. 16, with the former FIFA World Cup winner immediately jetting off to join his new teammates for a Western Australia-based training camp.
Now well established -- Mata became a minority owner of Victory in June -- no such acclimatisation to his new teammates would be necessary this time around. And with the club's season not set to commence until Oct. 18, the attacker has plenty of time to make his decision.
Savarese, though, wasn't worried about a potential wait dragging out, believing that Mata's respect for Victory meant that "not going to leave the club too long thinking about what is going to happen."
"We would look, probably, to try to find a player who plays in a similar position," the coach said of possible contingencies. "It's very difficult to find someone with that experience. But in the conversations that we have had with JD [Victory director of football John Didulica], we will look, if that happens, that he's not coming here, that we'll find some player that will give us a lot of quality in that position.
"Little by little, we have to start looking around as well. But as I said before, the respect is all on Mata to make that decision, and we stay hopeful that he will be with us. You know, hopefully in the next few weeks."
Elsewhere, Victory has signed striker Harry Sawyer, as well as foreign defenders Philipp Ziereis and Tom Lockyer, this offseason, and re-signed anticipated starters Charles Nduka and Franco Lino.
And while Mata would be a "cherry" on it all, Savarese is happy with the squad he has to work with.
"The most important thing is that I feel that we have a strong team, a good group," he said.
"We remain on Mata as the most important thing, and we'll always continue to look around, but the reality is right now, personally, I'm content with the group that I have and the players that we have to compete."