Why Manchester United shouldn't give up on record signing Angel di Maria

24 April 2015 03:39

Manchester United's recent revival, has coincided with their most expensive ever signing (Angel Di Maria), losing his place in the team. A petulant red card for a hands on protest to a yellow card for diving, and it looked like an influential player missing for a crunch game with top-4 rivals and neighbours Liverpool.

Out went Di Maria, and in came Mata, and Van Gaal had stumbled on a formation, and team, that is now flowing and looking like the Man United of old. Seeing them continue to stream forward in the dying embers of the Manchester Derby on Sunday, was an ominous sign for the rest of the league. United are back.

However, as the team's fortunes have been improving, Di Maria has been struggling to make an impact on the team. Earlier this season, Louis Van Gaal eluded to Di Maria's propensity for losing possession too often, this was never more obvious than his cameo against Liverpool in March. Whilst looking dangerous on the break, he managed to give the ball away a staggering amount of times in his short substitute appearance. As his manager suggested, this has been a season long issue. According the whoscored.com, Di Maria has managed just a 77.8% pass success rate, compared to his colleagues Ashley Young (80.4%) and Juan Mata (89.9%). Van Gaal likes to keep the ball, that much is obvious, so it is no surprise that a player so careless with the ball has fallen out of favour.

I'm not here trying to put down Di Maria, he is a world-class player in his first season in England. He is still second in the premier league in assists (10), so it would appear he is 'boom or bust' at the moment. The problem remains, Van Gaal does not like a high turnover of possession, so Di Maria has become an impact sub, used to stretch teams and hit them on the break when United are leading late in the game.

Predictably, the stories of a swap back to Madrid or a move to PSG are being mooted, but I think it would be a mistake to let him go, even if they were to recoup the money they have spent on him. You only have to think back to last season, and remember that, not only was he the outstanding player on the pitch for Real Madrid in the champions league final, but he was one of their better players throughout the season. United cannot give up on a player of his quality. Ander Herrera recently stated that he had to change his game to adjust to maintaining possession as Van Gaal demanded, and the results have been staggering, Herrera a cult hero at Old Trafford these days.

Were Di Maria to break back into the team, he would need to oust either the in-form Juan Mata, or the resurgent Ashley Young, who has looked like United's best player a number of times this season, his directness and ability to keep the ball a huge part of the teams good recent form. Can this be done? Of course, he was one of the best players in Europe last year. Competition for places need not be a reason for Di Maria to leave, rather an opportunity for Van Gaal to challenge him.

Di Maria was on fire at the start of the year, but even before being dropped, his performances were waning. If Van Gaal can tap into a good spirited competition for places between Di Maria, Young and Mata, he might just make the squad even stronger. After all, Angel Di Maria was playing amongst the Galacticos last year, he knew he had to be at his very best every game, and now maybe he will have the motivation to reach those levels again, knowing he can't walk back into this rapidly improving United team.

Maybe he has to put this season down to a learning curve, first season in England and all that. The hope is that, Di Maria is committed to improving, and Van Gaal has the nous to say the right things to get the best out of him, because he could be the x-factor in a squad which will now surely be back competing in the champions league next year.

Source: DSG