Whenever football fans engage in discussion on the customary end-of-season topic of the ‘Flop of the Season’, among the usual selection of dismal failures for whom life in the Premier League turned out to be a far cry from their halcyon days in a less well-known and significantly inferior league (known as the ‘Afonso Alves effect’), there is always one player whose inclusion is something that even the most astute and perceptive follower of the game could not have foreseen.
This year’s entry in this category is Manchester United winger Angel di Maria. Signed for a British transfer record fee of £59.7 million from Real Madrid last August, the Argentinian was a major disappointment in an otherwise successful campaign for the Red Devils.
Although the 27-year-old managed to create 11 league assists – the third-highest total in the division – his four goals was seen as an inadequate return for the enormous sum United paid to secure his services.
Indeed, it is telling that Di Maria’s most memorable moment in his debut campaign was not his sublime lofted finish in the barmy 5-3 defeat to Leicester City, but rather his brainless red card in a crucial FA Cup sixth round clash against Arsenal in March, after he inexplicably grabbed referee Michael Oliver’s shirt when remonstrating about a booking he received for diving.
In the cut-throat league of the Premier League where managers are rarely given a second chance to right any wrongs, one could argue that the same should apply to players, that a failure to perform and adapt to the English game should lead to a swift sale, even if the sell-on fee is substantially lower than the figure originally paid for the player.
[ffc-gal cat=”manchester-united” no=”5″]
This is a ruthless policy that United have adhered to in the past. During the Ferguson era, Diego Forlan and Juan Sebastien Veron landed at Old Trafford with huge reputations having been signed from Independiente and Lazio respectively; both flopped badly, both were promptly sent packing, and both were quickly forgotten as the Red Devils marched on to further success.
However, while this approach worked for Ferguson, his side were at the time the undisputed superpower of English football. The landscape has changed drastically since then, whereby United are no longer the dominant force, regarding a modest fourth-place finish as a success.
In Di Maria, the Red Devils possess a footballing superstar, a player who was named the man of the match in the 2014 Champions League final, arguably the proudest moment in Real Madrid’s rich and illustrious history as Los Blancos clinched La Decima, their long-desired tenth European Cup triumph.
That this game proved to be one of his last for the Bernabeu outfit came as an enormous shock to many considering how pivotal Di Maria had been for Real that season. United’s unveiling of the player as a Red Devil towards the end of last summer’s transfer window was regarded as a majestic coup for the club, and a sign that the Old Trafford club were on the way up.
While Di Maria may have been disappointing in his first campaign, he has not become a bad player overnight. Indeed, a quick look at how the careers of Forlan and Veron panned out after they left United reveals the perils of taking an overly-ruthless approach to offloading players who have initially underperformed; Forlan became one of the most prolific strikers in world football for first Villarreal and then Atletico Madrid, while Veron enjoyed success in his homeland of Argentina, even managing to earn a late-career recall to the national side.
The argument that South American footballers are more likely to struggle in the Premier League does not hold water when we consider the likes of Luis Suarez, Carlos Tevez and Sergio Aguero, indicating that in Di Maria’s case, it is time more than anything that he needs to become a success.
This time was not afforded to Forlan and Veron, yet such was the strength of that vintage United side that they were able to live with it. The same cannot be said of Louis van Gaal’s Class of 2015. Selling a world-class talent such as Di Maria would represent a fatal mistake if United are serious about reclaiming their place on the Premier League perch.
[ad_pod id=’ricco’ align=’center’]
