Did Manchester United Make a Mistake in Signing Angel Di Maria?
The short and easy hindsight-laden answer to the question "did Manchester United make a mistake when signing Angel Di Maria?" is, of course, yes.
Di Maria did not settle at Louis van Gaal's United, and a year later, the club have sold him on to a European rival at a loss. The financial loss, though, is not as great as the perceived loss of face. The capture of Di Maria stood as a symbol that in a post-Sir Alex Ferguson, post-David Moyes world, United could still compete with the big boys.
TOP NEWS
Madrid Fines Players $590K 😲
'Mbappé Out' Petition Gaining Steam 😳
Star-Studded World Cup Ad 🤩
The level of excitement surrounding his arrival was matched on his home debut where he electrified Old Trafford with direct and purposeful running. Here, finally, was a No. 7 worthy of the shirt, the kind of player who would get the crowd on their feet.
Van Gaal would surely build a team around this mercurial, brilliant runner with the ball and United would once again be a delight to watch. That theory lasted until the Red Devils shipped five against Leicester and Van Gaal decided that perhaps a less gung-ho approach would be needed.
There were still a couple of good games to come from El Fideo, but mostly that was that. His form tailed off, the infamous attempted-burglary of his home happened and Van Gaal eventually dropped him following his suspension against Arsenal. From then on, the capture of Di Maria no longer stood as a symbol for the hope of a brighter United future.
Instead, it became a very expensive gamble that had gone badly.
However, while the short answer to the opening question is indeed "yes," the truth is much more complex than that.
Football's transfer market has an inherent component of risk. Every player bought by every club who participates in the process is, to a greater or lesser extent, a gamble.
There are potential injuries, difficulties in adapting to new environments and the possibility that a player will not gel with their new team-mates. All of these and more are factors that mean no transfer is ever a guaranteed success.
And as with any gamble, the secret of success is not in never losing. Rather, the secret of success is in winning more than you lose. Success in the transfer market is about getting more right than you get wrong.
Sir Alex is United's most successful ever manager. His transfer greatest hits is a Who's Who of some of the club's most important players ever. Eric Cantona, Roy Keane, Rio Ferdinand and Wayne Rooney, for example.
However, there are plenty of clunkers in there too. Eric Djemba-Djemba, Roy Carroll, Bebe and the Wayne Rooney who played on Friday night against Aston Villa, for example—just kidding, Wayne, if you're reading.
The point is, that even one of the absolute best made plenty of mistakes in the transfer window. Some of these were actual mistakes, where even without hindsight, they looked a gamble too far. Bebe is probably the most pronounced of these, but there were others—selling Jaap Stam, for example.
However, there were plenty that were reasonable gambles that either did not pay off or did not reap the kind of rewards that the investment warranted. Dimitar Berbatov arguably belongs in this latter camp. Juan Sebastian Veron certainly does. Both were superb players, worthy of the kind of fees paid for them, who never quite fit the system under Ferguson.
This is the group to which Di Maria belongs. His transfer was not some guaranteed flop that should never have happened. Rather, it was an expensive gamble that did not pay off.
Of course, the financial loss in terms of fee paid versus fee recouped is mitigated by several things. Firstly, anecdotal evidence would suggest the club shifted a lot of "Di Maria 7" shirts. Secondly, football clubs amortise players' transfer fees across the length of their contracts.
From an accounting perspective, that means the value of players as assets diminishes from the time they arrive. It thus seems reasonable to speculate that United's books will not be overly negatively impacted by the whole affair.
Thirdly, while Di Maria's first season was hardly great on the pitch, he did make a vital contribution to United getting themselves back into Champions League contention. Thirteen points in 2014/15 came from goals either scored or assisted by Di Maria in draws or wins by a margin of one goal.
He was United's top assist maker, and created plenty of chances that did not result in goals. Even far from his best, he still made a difference.
Before United signed him, Di Maria looked like a superb fit for the squad. The idea of a player who could provide tremendous creativity from the wings was vital. Ashley Young was pre-renaissance at that point. Antonio Valencia had long since dropped off from his best form and Nani had been as poor as any other player during the Moyes season.
Di Maria had been man of the match in the Champions League final. He had been crucial for Argentina during the World Cup before his quarter-final injury. He had a tough start to the 2013/14 season, but had rallied, and Real Madrid fans were sorry to see him go.
United seemed a logical enough destination for him, too. It is not overly romantic to suggest that United is a club that has a special relationship with its creative wingers. Ryan Giggs, George Best, Steve Coppell and, of course, Cristiano Ronaldo before his switch in-field, all have a special place in United hearts.
While Van Gaal has had a problematic relationship with some South American creative players in his time, he had also called out Di Maria as a player of the quality needed to improve United's squad.
In an early press conference at United he said, per the Daily Mail, "Now we have five No. 9s and four No. 10s and we don't have wingers to play attacking width, not at the highest level, of Ronaldo or Di Maria or something like that. So I have to play also in another way and you have seen that."
After a comment like that it was hard to imagine him being dissatisfied with the club for bringing Di Maria in.
Of course, the possession-hungry side that Van Gaal built during his first season at United never properly clicked until after Di Maria had been dropped. In the end, perhaps the brilliant Argentinian just wasn't a good match for Van Gaal and his side.
While the outcome of the gamble may make the powers that be at United wish they had never taken it, the truth is it was a gamble well worth taking. The potential upside was tremendous, and ultimately, the downside has not been that much of a disaster.
United have taken a PR blow but Van Gaal's work of rebuilding the side marches on. And in as much as it was a mistake—history has retrospectively shown us that it was—there is no shame.
Making mistakes is a key part of the human experience, so why should football be any different? The game of the transfer market is played with incomplete information, so all that can be done when a mistake is made is to minimise its impact and learn the lessons it has to teach. So far United have done relatively well with the former.
The next couple of years will show how well they have done with the latter. Di Maria should be remembered as a gamble that was lost, rather than a bad bet to make.
.jpg?w=600 "Colts Release Kenny Moore")
