Angel di Maria is Manchester United’s most expensive player. Therefore, you would think he’d also be their best player. Di Maria broke the British transfer fee record when Old Trafford acquired his services for £59.7 million this summer. He got off to a rip roaring start in Premier League play, often looking like the best player on the pitch.
Then, as injuries mounted, he slowed down and came back to Earth. Perhaps it was a health/fitness issue? Maybe not he’ll be back to 100% himself?
Actually not so much.
Angel Di Maria, and fellow summer transfer window bust Radamel Falcao, were both named to Sir Ian Darke’s “top flops” transfer list on ESPN FC. At least Angel Di Maria is rather self-aware of how disappointing he’s been.
“I’ve had a couple of games where things haven’t gone as well as they could have,” said Di Maria. “I think it’s part of that settling in process to the English game.
“I started off quite well but I think that made expectations then rise and everyone thought that I would just carry on in the same way, but football is like that, sometimes you have these ups and downs.”
“It took me a while to settle in fully in each of the countries where I’ve played before. But I just have to keep working hard and focusing on what I want, which is to do as well as I possibly can.”
To be fair, Angel Di Maria is under a lot of stress. Those expectations carry a lot of weight, and he’s had to adapt to a new language, a new culture, a new climate. He’s struggled trying to learn the English language and he came to Old Trafford with expectations that hardly anyone could live up to.
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and writes The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with Fox Sports Digital, eBay, Google News and CBS Interactive Inc.
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