Talk of Angel Di Maria leaving Manchester United won’t go away.
Both Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich are eager to sign the Argentine playmaker, with reports that the player is unhappy in Manchester and ready to move on.
Here we consider both sides of the argument and ask in the style of the Clash: Should he stay or should he go?
Good Angel
Cristiano Ronaldo is a near pathological winner, and intensely demanding of his teammates. Gareth Bale can testify to the passive-aggressive glares and passive aggressive body language that the Portuguese exudes when unhappy with a passage of play. And yet, the FIFA Ballon d’Or winner was loath to see Angel Di Maria leave the Bernabeu.
Di Maria had enjoyed the best season of his career and was pivotal to the club’s Champions League victory. That he was sold by Florentino Pérez, the overbearing President of Real Madrid, still rankles with many. It was an amazing coup by Manchester United, who were sans European football, to secure the services of a genuine world-class superstar.
The mercurial Argentine started the season in fine form. His slalom runs from deep, devilish delivery from wide positions and moments of genius like his goal at Leicester City marked him out a class apart. Since then he has suffered injury, the traumatic experience of an attempted break-in, and unsettling experimentation with his position.
The true value of a player like Di Maria will come in a settled side – playing alongside the likes of Bastian Schweinsteiger and Memphis Depay. He is the key to making a good team great; he is the incremental difference at the highest level. Any player of his rare skills would struggle to adapt to a new country, a different culture AND an embryonic side.
Currently he is wanting for confidence and form, but that doesn’t mean you cash in at the earliest opportunity. The stats in terms of assists prove how important he has been to this United team in the most transitional of seasons. Given time, he can bloom at Old Trafford and treat the fans to the type of magical football he is more than capable of producing.
Bad Angel
That Angel Di Maria is a sublime talent is without question. He is a wonderfully fluid runner with the ball, has excellent vision and a good work-rate, and boasts impeccable technique. When Manchester United got into bed with Jorge Mendes and negotiated a deal for the Argentine, there was unanimous agreement that the club had secured a special player.
But Juan Sebastián Verón was special too. He combined wonderfully refined skills with relentless application, just like his compatriot. But it didn’t quite work out for him at Old Trafford. Just because a player is obviously talented and proven at the very highest level, it doesn’t necessarily mean he will succeed at a particular club.
Di Maria’s game slowly unravelled as the season has progressed. One can certainly list a number of mitigating circumstances as to why that is, but it’s no less true. United started the season accommodating their new star name. The football was intermittently okay but generally poor. Di Maria may have shone as a singular highlight but it didn’t work overall.
As the season wore on, Van Gaal adapted his tactics and the results improved. Many of United’s best performances didn’t feature Di Maria, whose propensity to lose the ball was a liability. Just because he’s brilliant, it doesn’t mean he’s brilliant for this club and this manager. £60m is an obscene amount of money for a player who isn’t a consistently match-winning talisman for the side.
It would be sad to see Di Maria go after only one season at the club, but if PSG are genuinely ready to offer United every penny of their initial outlay, there is no decision to make. That money could be better spent on a player better suited to the club and critically the manager.
It’s simply a case of the right player, just the wrong time and place.
