Thursday 2 July 2015 14:01, UK
Angel Di Maria’s latest performance for Argentina was a timely reminder of his class after a difficult first season at Manchester United, writes Nick Wright...
Louis van Gaal must have been delighted. After a dismal end to the season with Manchester United and a string of middling displays for Argentina, Angel di Maria finally produced a performance which suggests the £59.7million signing is getting back to his best.
With two goals and an assist, Di Maria played a starring role in Argentina’s 6-1 demolition of Paraguay as they set up a mouth-watering Copa America final against host nation Chile.
Prior to his superb diagonal finish from Javier Pastore’s through ball just after half-time in Concepción, Di Maria’s only goals of 2015 had come in an FA Cup tie against Yeovil Town and a Copa America warm-up game against Bolivia. In competitive fixtures, he had not scored in 23 appearances.
But he only had to wait another six minutes for his next opportunity, when he slotted into an empty net after some mesmerising build-up play from Lionel Messi. Di Maria wasn’t done there, either, and not long afterwards he produced a pinpoint cross for Sergio Aguero to head home number five.
This was Di Maria at his lethal best, producing the kind of performance that eluded him in the second half of a difficult debut season in England during which he lost his place in United’s starting line-up. He looked bereft of confidence as he toiled in the Premier League, but the Red Devils stand to benefit if he returns from international duty reinvigorated ahead of the new campaign.
“I am very happy about the goals,” the former Real Madrid man told Argentine newspaper Olé after the game. “What’s more, it came from doing a good job defensively and helping the team. In attack things weren’t happening for me, but luckily the goal opened up.”
Indeed, as well as converting his only two shots of the game and laying on an assist with one of two key passes, Di Maria made more tackles (three) than all of his Argentina team-mates apart from defensive midfielder Lucas Biglia.
That statistic supports his comments on the defensive side of his display against Paraguay and also speaks of a player with renewed hunger after averaging just 0.5 tackles per Premier League game for United in 2014/15.
Improvement
Things had not quite clicked for Di Maria in Chile prior to the Paraguay clash, but there had been gradual signs of improvement which are highlighted by a statistical comparison between his Copa America and Premier League performances.
Di Maria frequently cut a peripheral figure for Van Gaal’s side last season, but he has come out of his shell on international duty, averaging 38.6 passes per game compared to 31.3 for United.
He has averaged more ‘key’ passes per game (2.6 v 1.9), more dribbles (2 v 1.7) and more crosses (2.8 v 1.6) for Argentina, and he has also been more efficient in possession, completing 81.9 per cent of his passes compared to 77.8 per cent at United.
And while Jamaica are considerably weaker than Premier League opposition, Argentina’s other rivals in Chile have been Paraguay, Colombia and Uruguay – the latter two sit in the top 10 of the FIFA world rankings.
Future
Reports at home and abroad have suggested Di Maria is unsettled after his struggles at United, but Sky sources say they have no intention of selling him and the player himself has pledged his future to the club.
And one man whose faith in Di Maria to succeed at United has never wavered is Marcos Rojo, his team-mate with both club and country.
For me, the player with the most talent at Manchester United is Angel.
“For me, the player with the most talent at Manchester United is Angel,” Rojo said ahead of their semi-final with Paraguay. “There are great players at the club but Angel, for me, is one of the best in the team and in the world. It has been a difficult year for him. He had some problems adapting but that’s normal.
“Any player coming to a new country and a new league has to adapt to the differences and that’s what happens. But I’m sure he will do really well in the months ahead."
Di Maria also received vocal backing from Argentina coach Gerardo Martino in the build-up to the game. “Do you remember what I told you after the friendly against Germany (a 4-2 win in September)?” he asked journalists during his pre-match press conference. “I said he was among the top five players in the world. I still believe it.”
But while his quality has never been in doubt, the true test for Di Maria will be continuing his Copa America resurgence for United. His superb start to life at the club, when he scored three goals and claimed three assists in his first five starts, provided a glimpse of his true colours, and his restored confidence and dynamic performance against Paraguay suggest next season could be different.
First, however, there is the small matter of a Copa America final against Chile for him to contend with. Another starring performance from the ‘real’ Di Maria in Santiago on Saturday would give Van Gaal further cause for optimism.
