Sport360° view: Di Maria gives United a lift but more is required

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  • More stars needed: Manchester United must keep on investing if they want to compete with the best.

    In Angel Di Maria, Manchester United have signed a player who, based on last season, is among the top 20 in world football.

    Arguably Madrid’s most consistent player in the latter half of last season, he was man of the match in the Champions League final and became a hugely influential player under Carlo Ancelotti.

    His removal from the Madrid team will have more of a short-term effect on their first XI than the signings of James Rodriguez or Toni Kroos. 

    At 26, he’s in a peak age bracket and there’s more than enough evidence to suggest he will go on to be a fantastic player for United.

    United have overpaid a little but it’s an inflated transfer market and they lost all bargaining power once they lost 2-1 to Swansea on the opening day of the season. Every club and every agent knew Louis van Gaal needed good players, and he needed them quickly. 

    Questions have arisen, namely: Why did it take 34 days between James moving to Madrid and United signing Di Maria? And, is his acquisition addressing the main deficiencies in the squad? 

    We’ll never know the answer to the first, although it is remarkable that in a summer when it was widely acknowledged United needed four or five first-team players they’re breaking the British transfer record in the last week of the window.

    But with that in mind, we should maybe give Ed Woodward the benefit of the doubt regarding the second question, as who knows who else will be joining before Monday’s deadline with at least one defensive player of paramount importance.

    What is clear is that you do not spend £59.7m on a footballer for him to be a squad player. So, how exactly are United going to fit Di Maria into the starting XI? 

    Given their muted start to the season, and assuming there are no work permit issues, United’s new No7 should get his first experience of the English top flight against Burnley at Turf Moor on Saturday. 

    For all Van Gaal’s steadfast commitment to a system, surely he’s realised that United at present don’t have the individuals to play a 3-5-2. The Dutchman admitted in an interview with Britain’s Daily Mail on August 10, that he can’t play  an attacking formation with any genuine width without a world-class winger. He now has that man,  so when Di Maria is deemed up to speed expect a change to a 4-3-3.

    It was telling last night that Van Gaal referred to him as a “world class midfielder”, implying Di Maria will be on the left side of the midfield three – where he was excellent for Madrid – adding energy, trickery and dynamism. The counter-attacking was deeply ingrained in United’s style under Sir Alex Ferguson and Di Maria harks back to that cherished era.

    He can also operate in an attacking three, on the left or the right. It all depends how Van Gaal wants to best utilise his offensive ability.

    There are now issues over just where Juan Mata figures in all this but, whatever the permutations, Di Maria represents an incredibly exciting signing.

    He may not be exactly what they require and he may be expensive but he provides Van Gaal with pace and options, something that will seem like a revelation to the Dutchman after an awful few weeks.

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