'The King' recently became a part of Juan’s Common Goal movement, which is a project that encourages those in the football industry to donate one per cent of earnings to charity.
The pair crossed paths in Geneva in Switzerland, earlier this week, and Mata says the opportunity to catch up with our legendary former no.7 fulfilled a personal goal.
“Whenever people ask me which ex-football player I would love to meet or have a coffee with, I always said Eric Cantona because he’s just different, he’s special, he’s the King,” says Juan.
“I had a chance to meet his son [Raphael] a long time ago and became good friends with him – he’s a really nice guy.