Angel Di Maria Transfer News: Why He's Essential for Manchester United
"Will he or won't he?" is one major narrative pursuing Angel di Maria in 2014-15. After being ousted from Real Madrid this summer, the Argentinian has had a rather interesting season with a Manchester United that is slowly finding its mojo at the right time of the year.
Of course, the big question is, Just how big of an impact has di Maria had on the team? And more importantly, does he plan to extend his stay with the club past this season?
Early on di Maria was the team MVP, and yet Manchester United was struggling to find its form.
But the last few months have seen other players really step up and have major impacts for the club. Ander Herrera and Marouane Fellaini have really blossomed in the midfield, while Wayne Rooney has regained his scoring touch. Di Maria has been somewhere in the middle.
WhoScored ranks his overall score for the year as the 11th best on the side. He has done a lot of great things but has not necessarily been the undeniable difference maker on the side. A lot of that has to do with coach Louis van Gaal limiting his minutes of late due to the team's play without him.
This was mainly exacerbated by a suspension during a game against Tottenham. Meanwhile the team managed to win despite him, and di Maria suddenly found himself on the outside looking in with a coach who cares little for names or costs of players.
"I have said that already -- expensive is not the issue," van Gaal said, according to the team's official website. "Do I have to make a line-up with the most expensive players? I don't think so. That is not an argument, in my opinion, but an argument is that he gave his 10th assist and he did not play all the games like Herrera, so it is fantastic."
Di Maria brings a great deal to the side that no one else brings. He is first on the team in key passes per game, and it isn't even close. His 2.2 key passes per game are also 12th in the league. More importantly, di Maria is creating key passes while ranking 15th on the team in passes per game. And he has 10 assists to his name, second in the league. Again, he is doing managing this with diminished playing time (eighth on the team) and fewer passes per game than 14 other players on his club.
He leads the club in crosses per game and is fourth in through balls per game as well. He is second on the team in creating shots on goal and has three goals overall, which is actually good for seventh on the club.
He is first in dribbles per game and yet is fourth on the club in number of times he is dispossessed per game.
But those numbers are actually a step back from last year with Madrid. He averaged more key passes per game for Madrid, was dispossessed less often and made fewer poor touches per game. He averaged more long balls and more crosses as well. Part of this has to do with the more physical nature of the Premier League, which would lead to more dispossessions and poor touches.
On Madrid, he was passing the ball to a far more talented attacking trio than he is at United, so he had less of a burden to dribble into the area on his own and could rely on making passes for other players to capitalize on. In essence, he could play a riskier game with a higher chance at rewards. It also helped to be playing in the Spanish League where defenses are less physical, more open and thus offense is generated with greater ease.
Some might be concerned with some of di Maria's defensive stats. He is averaging fewer tackles per game than ever in his career; his other defensive stats are level with his career average. A lot of this has to do with the fact that he is playing further up the pitch for Manchester. At Madrid last year under Carlo Ancelotti, he was asked to track back repeatedly and help on both sides of the ball. He did that job admirably, but his function with United is more attack-driven.
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