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Did Van Gaal give up on Di Maria too soon?

Fit to wear Ozil's crown: Did Van Gaal give up on Di Maria too soon?
The Argentine was shipped off inside a year of having become the most expensive signing in English football history - but the stats suggest he still had plenty to offer...
While Louis van Gaal has been lamenting Manchester United's lack of speed and creativity, Angel Di Maria has been tearing up Ligue 1 with new club Paris Saint-Germain.

Di Maria has quickly begun to show the form that saw the Red Devils spend £59.7 million on him in 2014, even scoring a 40-yard free kick against Toulouse at the weekend, all the while United's static attack has infuriated fans.

Mesut Ozil has displayed all the craft and ingenuity United have craved and is currently receiving glowing praise for his performances - and assists record - this season, but, astonishingly, Di Maria remains his nearest rival in the history of the Premier League.

Not dissimilarly to the Argentine, Ozil endured a difficult first season in England, accused of going missing in matches, but Arsene Wenger stuck by his star playmaker and is now reaping the rewards.

The German has 10 assists this season alone and boasts the best matches per assists rate of all time (2.46), though he might have had a tussle on his hands had Di Maria (2.7) not been axed so swiftly.

Moreover, not content with axing one of the most creative players the Premier League has ever seen, Van Gaal got rid of another one over the summer too when he offloaded Nani to Fenerbahce!

To add even more egg to Van Gaal's face, Di Maria has quickly settled into life in the French capital after overcoming injury, and his goals and assists record dwarfs that of his old United team-mates.


Di Maria has scored or assisted a goal 46 minutes more regularly than United's most involved player, Juan Mata, while it is another outcast who possesses the best minutes-to-goals ratio: Adnan Januzaj, now on loan at Dortmund, who bagged a goal during his 127 minutes of action before being shipped off.

Eagle-eyed readers might have noticed some obvious absentees: skipper Wayne Rooney has scored or assisted every 491 minutes (five times worse than Di Maria!) while Memphis Depay has one goal in 589 minutes.
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