Was Di Maria Worth It for Manchester United?

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Reports indicate that Manchester United’s record signing Ángel Di María is on a verge of a move to Paris Saint Germain for £44 million. The move would represent about a £15 million loss for United as well as drastically changing how we can expect United to play in the coming season.

The £59 million United paid for Di María in the summer of 2014 made it seem like the Argentine would become the focal point of United’s tactics for the coming season. While he impressed early in his United career – he amassed 6 of his 10 assists and 3 of his 4 goals before the New Year – he failed to sustain that form in the season’s second half.

Part of that drop was down to an injury that limited his involvement in the final ten or so games, but a more significant factor might well have been that Van Gaal found that his side played better without Di María. The winning streak that helped propel United into fourth and thus a Champions League berth was largely the result of a midfield composed of Ander Herrera, Marouane Fellaini and Michael Carrick. Even if he were fit, there’s every chance Di María might still have found himself on the bench.

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So what happened exactly? How has Di María’s value fallen so precipitously since last summer? Are, in fact, United actually getting more than they should for the former Real Madrid midfielder?

Di María’s numbers last term are actually consistent with the numbers he produced for most of his career with Real Madrid. The injury and the subsequent loss of his spot in the starting XI cost him minutes, but in terms of production and influence on a per game basis his numbers were almost identical to his first three seasons in Madrid.

*La Liga numbers taken from WhoScored

The key differences here are in his last two seasons with Real. His game in the 2012/13 season was decisively more direct than any of his other campaigns before or since. He scored more goals and provided less assists and key passes. In so doing he actually became less valuable to Real Madrid as a whole. Los Blancos already had plenty of firepower elsewhere on the field, and Di María’s contributions were frankly meager in comparison to Cristiano Ronaldo and company.

The summer of 2013 saw Real’s blockbuster acquisition of Gareth Bale, who would be shunted to the right wing from his preferred left wing position by the presence of Ronaldo. That move threatened to make Di María redundant in the Real squad. He frequented the right wing for much of his career prior to Bale’s arrival and many thought his career in Spain was coming to an end.

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Injuries to his squad – mostly in the form of Sami Khedira – forced then-Real manager Carlo Ancelotti to call upon Di María once again however. He was moved to central midfield and urged to push forward to the left to make up for the space left behind by Ronaldo when he inevitably cut inside.

Far from being merely adequate in this new role, Di María thrived. He provided more key passes on a per game basis and thus saw his assists skyrocket to a career high of 17 over the course of the La Liga season. Prior to his reinvention as an influential center midfielder, Di María more closely resembled an – albeit exceptional – utility winger in a team full of superstars. Come the summer of 2014 and Argentina’s run into the World Cup final game, his value had skyrocketed. He had suddenly transformed into a player that could possibly define how his entire team played.

His inability to live up to those expectations is not surprising. He had one truly exceptional year that even casual observers could correctly identify as more of an aberration than an indication that his game had suddenly drastically improved at 26 years old. Anxious to outfit the squad with shiny and versatile players for Van Gaal’s opening campaign, United were more than happy to get their man at whatever the cost however.

Van Gaal took advantage of that versatility. Di María was played in multiple different roles as the Dutchman tried to find United’s best system, but performed best yet again when he inhabited that same central midfield role in which he had closed out his career at Real. Indeed, we can extrapolate out his goal and assist numbers had he played a full season to something similar – even better – than what he did in that last season in Spain.

Goals and assists provide a pretty narrow view on a player’s overall influence however. Really, it’s in key passes where Di María faltered. They dropped from 2.6 from his last year at Real to a more typical 1.9 with United. That difference suggests that his early run of form with United was more fluke than a legitimate demonstration of his quality. He was simply no longer the creative dynamo he was the year before. By way of comparison, Di María’s numbers last term and for much of his career are considerably below those produced by Arsenal midfielder Santi Cazorla, who came to north London in 2012 for a mere £15 million.

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None of which is to suggest that Di María had suddenly devolved into a bad player. Despite his uneven season, he’s still earns a place in the top 100 or so players in the world. He simply reverted to the mean last season. This happens so often in baseball that exceptional seasons – particularly ones that happen during the player’s prime – are looked at suspiciously by scouts and ownership alike. Most anyone can get lucky and have a great season; it’s much harder to have a consistently good career.

Mildly put, Manchester United miscalculated with their purchase of Di María last season. They paid for a player who earned his evaluation for precisely one season of fine play. Any year before his standout season he’d have been lucky to expect half of what he ended up costing United. All that said, their ability to largely offset their own overestimate by convincing PSG to buy at a price that is still above Di María’s actual value is a coup unto itself. United ownership is certainly happy to see him leave for £44 million, and the fans should be too.

It’s harder to guess how Di María will fare at Paris Saint Germain. They’re well stocked in his kind of player: wide sources of creativity who in a pinch can play in midfield. His move to the French capital suggests that PSG are about to offload either Di María’s compatriot Javier Pastore or perhaps Lucas Moura.

Regardless, it’s easy to see why they’d want a player like Di María. He has experience not only in arguably the two best domestic leagues in Europe, but also featured in more than few deep runs into the Champions League. He’s no doubt a valuable asset for any club to have. It’s doubtful he’ll ever come close to the form that inspired United to break the English transfer records though.