How Di Maria became United's €85m white elephant

Angel Di Maria seemed to want to leave Manchester United from the moment he arrived. After completing the move last August the open letter he wrote to Real Madrid fans read like a heartfelt adios and a reluctant hello to Old Trafford.

The way the Argentinian told it, he had been bombed out of the club he had just helped to the la decima Champions League triumph in May. The honesty was admirable but United were made to sound a decidedly second choice.

“Unfortunately, I have to go but I want to make clear that this was never my desire,” wrote Di Maria. “My cycle at Real Madrid has come to an end. It’s impossible to capture everything I’ve experienced here in a few lines but I hope this letter communicates what I feel at the moment.

“There are many things that I value and many of them have nothing to do with my salary. I hope to find them at Manchester United, one of the biggest clubs in the world.”

For his €85 million fee and rewarding salary United might have expected more discretion from the man they had just made British football’s most expensive player. This start was to prove what the augury suggested. Di Maria never quite settled in Manchester. What he wanted to find at United – stability, a pivotal role in the XI, a manager who trusted him implicitly – did not occur.

Culture shock

There was a culture shock, no doubt. Just after he joined, Louis van Gaal’s team were humiliated 4-0 at MK Dons in a Capital One Cup tie. That may have been a side featuring some junior players but when Di Maria’s debut came against Burnley the following Saturday, United’s stuttering start to the season continued with a 0-0 draw.

Di Maria starred, though. The display at Turf Moor on a sunny August afternoon was one of zest, pace and creation: all the qualities Van Gaal hoped for. When United finally won a match under the manager next time out, Di Maria was again the bright light. The 4-0 hammering of Queens Park Rangers featured a goal on his home debut and a performance that suggested United might fly if he could reproduce it regularly.

This was to be his big failure. Di Maria’s inconsistency was final. A brittle personality, his confidence would yo-yo and performances were affected. He was not aided by Van Gaal, though. Almost immediately the Dutchman seemed to instinctively mistrust him.

This was odd because unlike, say, Luke Shaw and Ander Herrera, two other summer arrivals, Van Gaal had actively identified and recruited Di Maria.

He was the marquee signing the manager stated was in that elite band of players just below Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Yet he became the player Van Gaal talked up before securing him and often talked down once at United.

The complaints centred on Di Maria's penchant for dribbling into trouble and the fitful contributions. Manifestation of this faith-deficit came in Van Gaal replacing him during games, or playing him out of position. In his sole season at the club there were shifts in central midfield, in attack alongside Wayne Rooney, and out wide, Di Maria's favoured berth.

The troubles away from the pitch were crystallised in the terrifying attempted burglary at his rented Cheshire home in February. The intruders used scaffold poles to try to break in. Di Maria and his family were inside at the time. They moved out but the ordeal was not easily shaken off.

Di Maria's nadir came during Arsenal's 2-1 victory over United at Old Trafford on March 9th. He decided to push the referee, Michael Oliver, and the 27-year-old was shown a second yellow card of the FA Cup tie. And Van Gaal's anger. "Angel Di Maria knows that he doesn't have to touch the referee," he said. "So that is not so smart of him."

Four goals

Now he has departed for Paris St-Germain for €63 million as United’s €85 million white elephant. There were four goals and only 24 starts. The goal in the 2-0 FA Cup third-round victory at Yeovil Town on January 4th was the only time Di Maria scored in 2015 for United.

On arrival Di Maria and Radamel Falcao were billed as United’s galacticos. Yet each ended their spell as an expensive mistake, Falcao having cost a total €23 million for his season-long loan from Monaco.

If Van Gaal had not led United back into the Champions League his failure to draw the best from Di Maria would be more closely scrutinised. The sense is he n was never given the best chance to show his best. Van Gaal wanted Di Maria to stay, apparently. Yet two summers ago Wayne Rooney was told he would not be going under any circumstance when David Moyes was in charge.

So there may be a question about how hard Van Gaal attempted to keep Di Maria.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic says Di Maria can help PSG win the Champions League, just as he turned the 2014 final for Real. If this occurs, Van Gaal and United fans may regret his leaving.

(Guardian service)