He cost an awful lot of money and wasn’t at his best last season. But hearing that Angel di Maria is planning to return Manchester United next season, after a difficult first year at the club, should be music to the ears of the fans.
There has been a feeling in some quarters that he will leave Old Trafford this summer but this would surely be an error of judgement on the part of United. Double figures in assists for a player who missed so many matches shows that he was still very dangerous at the business end of the park.
Quoted prior to The Copa America which starts next week Di Maria said:
“It was a hard season for me. I think it was hard because it was another country and another league, and this league is harder than the Spanish one. So, I couldn’t adapt myself as I wanted to.
“Now I will play the Copa America and then I will move back to Manchester for next season and do my best there.”
Manchester United are in a never ending struggle to sign the world’s best players. Much of the time they are fighting the odds as the very top players regularly perceive Real Madrid or Barcelona as The Holy Grail.
So once you have done the difficult bit and signed the worldie, you simply have to hold on. Form is temporary but class is permanent and Di Maria, who broke Manchester United and The Premier League’s transfer record when he moved for 59.7m from Real Madrid, most definitely has class.
Some players explode onto the scene when they move countries and others take time. But there is a resolve about the modern Argentinian footballer that will hopefully prevail with Di Maria at Manchester United.
When he starts to really fire for Manchester United he will be worth his weight in diamond and a front four which includes Depay, Di Maria and Rooney has to be a force to be reckoned with next season.
