Angel Dimaria joined Manchester United amidst so much fan fare. The thought of him ever flopping rarely crossed the mind. He was an individualistic player, even if he didn’t score so much his dribbling and continuous runs he made at Madrid were enough to stamp his authority on games. He was not a striker who had to score, and maybe could loose his touch like Torres, nor was he a Veron or Pirlo who could play at a certain Tempo. He looked more like a Neymar who just had to enjoy himself.

Di maria was a player heralded by some, including me as Madrid’s actual best player, despite the goal scoring exploits of a certain Cristiano. At his best he worked the hardest, created the most chances and also dribbled the most out of all the Madrid players. Angel Di maria, in his last season for Real Madrid was the third highest assist provider in Europe since August 2010, with 49 assists, 7 fewer than Ozil and 8 fewer than Lionel Messi. His last season in Real was clearly his best, providing a total of 22 assists, 110 dribbles, and a total of 90 chances created courtesy of squawka.com. His Manchester united stats only pale in comparison. He finished the season with 12 assists, not bad but ended up with 51 chances created, a far cry from his previous 90. He also finished the season with 58 dribbles. He was a shadow of the player we saw at Lisbon a year ago. The Angel Di maria who ran Athletico’s defense ragged. What in the world happened to Angel?

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Some believed it was fatigue due to the absence of the usual winter break, because he did start the season well, that might be a factor. But I do not think “El Fideo” ever really got going in the United Jersey. Also his position on the pitch rarely affected his performance in Madrid as Di maria is a very flexible forward who can play as a winger, or a second striker, and can also attack from deep in the midfield. All his goals for Man U actually came from the midfield, it seems though that he benefits from playing with space in front of him. El Fideo’s best performance for Madrid, which was at Lisbon also came from playing as part of the midfield behind Benzema, Ronaldo and Bale.

Looking at the playing style of last seasons United, it looked like Di maria was restricted, maybe even told to pass rather than look to dribble. Clearly this wasn’t who he was. He is a player who enjoys taking on defenders, before passing the ball. Van gaal drew attention to this once in a press conference

” Sometimes you cannot dribble, so you have to make it a passing game, and Di Maria is not a player who wants to give a pass every time he gets the ball.

But in this case we needed that and not dribbles. Therefore he lost the ball a lot and that was not good for the balance of the team.”

Mirror.co.uk editor David McDonnell even described Di maria as subdued in his article, and I believe he was spot on. LVG try to get his United team to play in a passing possession based style trying to dictate the tempo of games. They try to take their time and carefully pick out opposition defenses. This is quite different from the Madrid Di maria played in who attacked with incredible power and pace, and played mostly on the counter.

The last Copa America reminded us of the Di maria we used to know. This proved that he is still the same player, and he just needs to be used in the right way under the right team. LVG therefore has to find a way to get the best out of him at United, or let him go to a club he can fit into (with the recent interest of PSG, and the signing of Depay that looks likely).

I actually believe that Di maria’s lack of goal scoring ability worked against him though, because now with the signing of Depay, Van gaal has a proven goal scorer, and a player with similar individual ability. And then LVG would probably not mind the dribbling as long as it ends up with a goal.

What do you think hampered Dimaria’s performances last season? Leave your thoughts below