Manchester United midfielder Juan Mata has pledged to donate 1% of his future footballing salary to charity.
The 28-year-old, who is thought to pocket £140,000 a week at Old Trafford, has joined an initiative called 'Common Goal' and has encouraged his fellow professionals to do likewise.
"What we're trying to do is define a shared social agenda for football," Mata told reporters. "Common Goal goes beyond individual brands and egos to deliver a greater impact. By making the pledge, we can form a lasting connection between football as a business and football as a tool for social change.
"Every time someone signs for a team, when the salaries are paid, when the accounts come in, at clubs, federations, agents and associations, 1% goes direct to social projects. No one looks at it and says: 'Hey, what's this 1% here?' because everyone knows.
"Collectively football takes on a social responsibility, we set a new agenda, it's understood that a part of what football generates goes to social projects. If you do it alone it's hard but if you bring people together ... It can be an engine for good, an act of social awareness within the system. We want to make it the new normal, the standard."
Mata, who joined United from Chelsea in January 2014 for a then-club record £37.1m, has just entered the final 12 months of his current deal with Jose Mourinho's side.
Neil Wilkes
