As the first manager of Manchester United to come from outside the British Isles, Louis van Gaal created history in 2014.

After David Moyes departed Manchester United, the Netherlands coach had a rough time and was left to pick up the pieces. For the former manager, it was the ideal conclusion as he raised the FA Cup during his last match with the team.

Louis-Van-Gaal, United Manchester
Nevertheless, he had the best opportunity of succeeding because the team supported the seasoned manager in the transfer window, bringing in Angel Di Maria as the primary acquisition for his two-year stay.

Van Gaal did, however, sell the Argentine barely a year after his record-breaking £60 million arrival in the United Kingdom, capping off a disastrous year for all Red Devils supporters.

How Di Maria’s experience at United went awry

The World Cup winner’s one and only season in the Premier League wasn’t a total bust; in his first five games, the attacker had scored three goals and provided four assists, more than immediately making up for his high transfer fee.

Di Maria scored four goals and gave 12 assists in 32 games during his time at United, averaging a goal per two games. That was most definitely not the type of player who needed to be sold quickly.

Nevertheless, he did see a modest decline in form in the second part of the season as problems off the pitch affected his on-field results. The left-footed whizz’s relationship with Van Gaal entirely collapsed at the same time as his house was broken into; Di Maria recently referred to his old coach as “the worst manager of his career.”

At the end of the season, Van Gaal let go of the magician, who joined Paris Saint-Germain for slightly over £43 million. According to journalist Roy Nemer, the magician is now considered to be “the most underrated player of his generation” there.

Di Maria’s post-Man United career

Di Maria’s first games in France were so successful that he ended up contributing to more goals than he had started. The winger scored ten goals and provided eighteen assists in his first season. During his seven-year stay with PSG, he recorded 212 goal contributions.

Angel Di Maria getting ready
Di Maria briefly played for Juventus in Italy after leaving the French team, but his time there will always be remembered for the goal he scored against France in the World Cup final, which allowed his country to win the cup.

Di Maria’s Records in Career

Club

Lighters

Objectives

Helps

Man United

32

4

12

PSG

295

93

119

Juventus

Forty

8

7.

Benfica

155

28

36

Statistics from Transfermarkt

In 2024, the five-foot-ten veteran will be back at Benfica, having left the team 13 years earlier to join Real Madrid. Nemer claims that the 36-year-old “unplayable” player is still going strong, even exceeding Man United’s Argentine wonderkid, Alejandro Garnacho.

This season, the 19-year-old jewel has been great for United, with the second-most assists, critical passes, and successful dribbles in the Premier League. He has also scored the joint-second-most goals for the team. Even though he’s making an impression, Garnacho hasn’t quite matched Di Maria’s level of goal contributions this season—21 to nine.

United Arsenal Premier League thoughts on Garnacho Man
Though it is unsettling to ponder how much Garnacho would have learnt from his Argentina teammate given that he is currently playing on the right wing, much like the Benfica star, it is always interesting to speculate about what Di Maria’s career may have looked like if he had never been sold.