Following their humiliating 4-0 defeat to League One side MK Dons, it is very obvious Van Gaal is going to need more than new signing Angel Di Maria to get the team back on track
It’s their second defeat of the season and the 4-0 thrashing to MK Dons isn’t likely to be a loss they will forget soon.
Van Gaal may be hoping that new signing Angel Di Maria might reverse the clubs fortunes, but it’s going to take more time for the former Real Madrid player to get the team back on a winning streak.
The arrival of former Argentina winger Di Maria will no doubt strengthen the attack of United, but that seems not to be their problem.
Van Gaal should be more concerned about rebuilding the back four, central midfield and a passer that can drive through the middle and send brilliant passes to the winders and attackers.
The Argentine winger signed for the club in a record in £59.7m move from Real Madrid.
The value of money paid to get the winger is generating debates across boarder.
Is Angel Di Maria really worth £59.7million? Of course he is. Are Manchester United in turmoil because they’re suddenly spending heavily in the transfer market? No.
So, yes, Di Maria is worth £59.7m because he is the sort of player United need right now, and the sort of attacking midfielder who would slot into the 3-5-2 system we understand Van Gaal has so much faith in.
He’s also a world superstar and at the age of 26, he should have plenty more years left in the tank. Put him alongside Ander Herrera and Vidal, and suddenly United’s middle three has a world-class look that has been missing for many years. I can think of many clubs who would like an engine room like that.
Those were raging debates at the time – but ask any Real fan now whether either player was value for money and the answer will be a resounding yes. The simple truth is a player is worth whatever the buying club is willing to pay at the time.
The deeper issue is whether a club can have faith in the manager to be piecing together a well-researched plan. In United’s case, that means Van Gaal knowing exactly what formation he wants to play and then picking the players he believes are perfect to make that system work.
So does the Dutchman know what he’s doing or is this panic buying at its most expensive?
Can the Red Devils fans have faith in Louis van Gaal to know what he’s doing? Or is all this frenzied transfer activity at Old Trafford unplanned and disorganised? And will a player like Di Maria rise immediately to the challenge, or will he need six months to settle in?
Every time a club spends big, the same questions and suspicions arise. Have they paid too much, is it desperation, do they know what they’re doing? Was Ronaldo worth £80m when Real Madrid bought him from Manchester United? Was Gareth Bale really worth £86m when the same Spaniards took him from Tottenham?
I suspect a player of Di Maria’s class will be in the latter category.
Rebuilding a team in such a short period of time, especially once a season has started and the opening results have been disappointing, is high risk. The Premier League is littered with expensive failures: Spurs never managed to spend the Bale money wisely under Andre Villas-Boas and even Chelsea had seasons when Roman Abramovich’s fortunes were spent questionably – Fernando Torres being a case in point.
The only way we can know that at this moment is to look at Van Gaal’s past. He is one of the world’s most successful managers, with an enviable track record at each club he has managed – and fresh from a World Cup where Holland were real contenders right up to the semi-finals.
United have decided he is the man to pick up the pieces post David Moyes, and that’s what he is doing right now. Picking up the pieces and rebuilding a badly fractured side.
Without the arrival of players like Di Maria and, as expected, Chile’s World Cup star Arturo Vidal from Juventus, United’s prospects for the season would look considerably bleaker.
In fact the next big question will be, where does Juan Mata fit in?
United in turmoil? Di Maria, Vidal, Herrera, Wayne Rooney, Robin van Persie – not to mention Luke Shaw and Marcos Rojo. I don’t think so.
If Di Maria sends through Old Trafford a surge of confidence like Mesut Ozil brought to Arsenal for a few months, it could make the difference between qualifying for the Champions League or not. If they achieve success that’s the fee paid off.
With Ander Herrera and now, especially, Angel Di Maria, they have entered a new phase of buying foreign stars at exorbitant prices. Not since Juan Sebastian Veron arrived from Lazio in 2001 have United paid top dollar for foreign imports.
Further reinforcements are needed – not least in defence – but United need Di Maria. His pace and penetration will inject much-needed urgency to their play. However, at £60m they have overpaid once again. And that is the ongoing price of their fall from grace.
ANTHONY NLEBEM
