Manchester United and Real Madrid are two of the biggest clubs in the entire world. Angel Di Maria doesn’t see them on par though. He sees the move he made from the Spanish capital to Old Trafford as a big step up.
“Leaving Real and coming to as big a club as Manchester United makes you grow as a player and progress in your career,” he said.
If that soundbite doesn’t make United fans make feel all warm and fuzzy then I really don’t know what will. United’s £59.7million record-signing (the previous record was Juan Mata £37.2 million) from Los Blancos was voted the club’s player of the month for September by fans and has been a consistent threat in attack. He’s probably the best overall player right now on a star studded roster.
Angel Di Maria knows that United have to start getting better results, and fast though.
He said: “It’s a more physical aggressive style of football here, strength comes into play a lot more.
“Players here are a lot more powerful and show their strength a lot more, it’s another league but it’s all about settling in as quickly as possible.
“There have been other players of a similar build and stature to myself, slim if you like, who have come here and shown a physical resilience in the way that I hope to as well.
“The main thing though is I am very, very happy to be here, it’s a league I have always wanted to play in and I’m overjoyed to be playing here at Manchester United now and I hope it’s going to be for a long time.”
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and very often writes The Sports Bank.net ,which is partners with Fox Sports. Read his features stories in the Chicago Tribune RedEye edition. Listen to him on 1620 The Zone. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks). His work has been featured in hundreds of media outlets including The Washington Post and ESPN 2