Angel Di Maria | £59.7M fee agreed I Maybe tomorrow...or the day after...

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sammsky1 said:
Once upon a time in a land far far away, Manchester United also had an appetite for signing world class talent at world class fees (Ferdinand, Veron, Rooney etc).

Sadly, those days have passed.
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di Maria will bring those days back.
 
sammsky1 said:
Once upon a time in a land far far away, Manchester United also had an appetite for signing world class talent at world class fees (Ferdinand, Veron, Rooney etc).

Sadly, those days have passed.
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Mata, Van Persie? Unless you mean signing players outside England.
 
Incidentally, just to get an idea of how much Real Madrid's fans value him. This is AS's survey question: "Who should start the Supercopa - Di Maria or James?" 73% went with Di Maria.
http://as.com/encuestas/2014/08/17/1408289787.html

A similar survey that offered James Vs Di Maria Vs Alonso as the options from Marca ended with Di Maria as a comfortable winner.
 
Nani gone out on loan, so I think it's ok to get a bit excited about this potential transfer. I'd be over the moon if we got him. World class winger without a shadow of a doubt.
 
jojojo said:
Incidentally, just to get an idea of how much Real Madrid's fans value him. This is AS's survey question: "Who should start the Supercopa - Di Maria or James?" 73% went with Di Maria.
http://as.com/encuestas/2014/08/17/1408289787.html

A similar survey that offered James Vs Di Maria Vs Alonso as the options from Marca ended with Di Maria as a comfortable winner.
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They felt the same about Ozil didn't they? The players were certainly gutted he left. Bet they couldn't give a flying feck now.
 
Jacob said:
Yes, because I obviously can't say this years top 8 can I? That would include Swansea, Aston Villa and Hull.

I'm saying that any of those midfielders would struggle to hold down a regular place in either City, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, Everton and Spurs. Hell, even Swansea and Newcastle have better centre mids.
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Top 4, no. But they'd get plenty of games at Everton, spurs or Newcastle (did they come 8th in the end?). Fellaini was a regular at Everton only a season ago, and more to the point, they all played for a club that came 7th, which is about their level.
 
sammsky1 said:
Mata is overhyped IMO. Certainly not a world class player from recent performances or stature, though he may become one.
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Recent performances, like helping Chelsea win the champions league and then helping them win the other european league?

Or do you mean playing out wide for David Moyes' Manchester United?
 
Not gonna get my hopes up but I've come round and I'd love this to materialise now, we need quality.

Personally I believe we'll sign Blind and that'll be it... But watch the space.
 
KiD MoYeS said:
Not gonna get my hopes up but I've come round and I'd love this to materialise now, we need quality.

Personally I believe we'll sign Blind and that'll be it... But watch the space.
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Probably the best approach. If we sign him we sign him, if not we don't.
 
Sir Alex occasionally spoke of "special talents". Players that you didn't need at the time and players that sometimes you wouldn't automatically have a position for in your team; but when they became available you just had to move for them. Angel di Maria is a special talent, he doesn't play in a position we need to strengthen as much as other areas and in our current system he probably wouldn't even properly fit. But he's a player that it is criminal to not move for as he would help improve us in so many ways it's untrue.
 
JB7 said:
Sir Alex occasionally spoke of "special talents". Players that you didn't need at the time and players that sometimes you wouldn't automatically have a position for in your team; but when they became available you just had to move for them. Angel di Maria is a special talent, he doesn't play in a position we need to strengthen as much as other areas and in our current system he probably wouldn't even properly fit. But he's a player that it is criminal to not move for as he would help improve us in so many ways it's untrue.
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Position is irrelevant in my opinion, we need top quality, and fast!
 
Raoul said:
Probably the best approach. If we sign him we sign him, if not we don't.
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I trust van Gaal anyway, so I'm still prepared to be patient over the coming couple of years. It helps I was a heavy drinker before last season even started.
 
I'd love him, but he needs to be fed. We must get a central midfielder to win him the ball.
 
Empire said:
Recent performances, like helping Chelsea win the champions league and then helping them win the other european league?

Or do you mean playing out wide for David Moyes' Manchester United?
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As in Mata is not one of the top 3 or 4 players in his position in world football. Even during his high points at Chelsea, he was not genuine world class. Certainly not even top premier league class whilst being (mis)used by Moyes last season. Just my opinion.

Angel Di Maria is genuine world class, evidenced by that fact that he is a current European club football champion and also recently played in a world cup final. The most improved player in world football right now if you ask me. And so 'worth' paying the crazy world class fee's required to sign such players.

In my book, Di Maria is a similar profile to Suarez, only younger and more versatile. Real Madrid are really really nuts to want to sell him, but I gave up trying to understand the philosophy of Real Madrid years ago.
 
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Maybe it's just me being optimistic here but:

Losing a winger in Nani + Signing an Argentine in Rojo = Probably does make Di Maria slightly more likely.
 
KiD MoYeS said:
Not gonna get my hopes up but I've come round and I'd love this to materialise now, we need quality.

Personally I believe we'll sign Blind and that'll be it... But watch the space.
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Ugh, Blind. Exactly the sort of average squad player we don't need. Better off just working with Fletcher, Cleverley and Lingard. Only place he'd be useful is back up left wing back, and for the money I'd rather stick with Reece James. We need players of a high enough caliber to improve our team.
 
Hernandez - BFA said:
Maybe it's just me being optimistic here but:

Losing a winger in Nani + Signing an Argentine in Rojo = Probably does make Di Maria slightly more likely.
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Would work out.

Can he also play in a midfield 2 with Herrera or Carrick if we play 4231? Thats key to your equation above
 
Sixpence said:
I'd be chuffed to get him but we still need more, namely a truly world class CM and another defender.
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I agree but I can't see more that one more player coming in personally. Two more would be great especially if one is a midfielder.
 
please not Daley blind. hes the exact player weve all been complaining about for years he will be next years deadwood once the novelty wears off. Im sure he's a capable player, but hes not going to come cheap, he would cost us 20m easily with the way we conduct transfers. we have enough cover for positions, we need world class starters to form a new Spine. Daley blind is not that.
 
This is the signing which would lift the place, but it has to be in conjunction with a CM.
 
sammsky1 said:
Would work out.

Can he also play in a midfield 2 with Herrera or Carrick if we play 4231? Thats key to your equation above
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Absolutely.

A midfield and striker consisting of:

------------------Carrick(or new addition)--------------
-------------Herrera----------------Di Maria------------

Januzaj----------------RvP----------------------Rooney

Could work very well and would be very close to the position he played in for Real Madrid, with him also providing width from the left and Rooney slotting into the striker position when we are in attack.

Edit: Not really 4-2-3-1, but a 4-3-3 but still.
 
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Sammyjunn said:
Yeah but even off to ball, do you reckon than when you give him a through ball, he wont be faster than defenders most of the time?
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Not against Swansea - he gave them problems when he had the ball at his feet but running onto through balls he didn't quite have enough pace. But I take the point about his exceptional close control meaning his overall speed with the ball is a nightmare for most defenders.
 
ScarleyUtd said:
Not against Swansea - he gave them problems when he had the ball at his feet but running onto through balls he didn't quite have enough pace. But I take the point about his exceptional close control meaning his overall speed with the ball is a nightmare for most defenders.
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Funny guy you, it has been quite a while since their have been through balls in our play, and I really dont know who would give that and havent seen.
 
While I do think this is a long shot, I am optimistic about getting a new winger. van Gaal has identified the wings as an area he is concerned with and now we have let arguably our best one go. Ok, Januzaj is better but learning but on his day he would buy and sell Valencia and Young. So yeah, it's a long shot, but as we now really need a new winger and he is one we are being linked with heavily, lets get excited for a while. Make it happen Ed.
 
Godfather said:
Absolutely.

A midfield and striker consisting of:

------------------Carrick(or new addition)--------------
-------------Herrera----------------Di Maria------------

Januzaj----------------RvP----------------------Rooney

Could work very well and would be very close to the position he played in for Real Madrid, with him also providing width from the left and Rooney slotting into the striker position when we are in attack.
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433 like you have outlined, Im convinced of.

I meant a formation like

Herrera, Di Maria
Januzaj, Mata, Rooney
Van Persie

Does he have the defensive nous to play in that position?
 
Sammyjunn said:
Funny guy you, it has been quite a while since their have been through balls in our play, and I really dont know who would give that and havent seen.
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Herrera was doing it for a start. And it's a large part of his game.

Also Scholes until recently? Or Carrick? Not sure how you can say we don't play through balls...makes no sense
 
sammsky1 said:
433 like you have outlined, Im convinced of.

I meant a formation like

Herrera, Di Maria
Januzaj, Mata, Rooney
Van Persie

Does he have the defensive nous to play in that position?
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No, don't think so from what I've seen.
Not with a Mata in front of him who does feck all defensively. Put Vidal in there and it could work. Would have to sign both first though obviously.

And yes, I would drop Mata for that.
 
Sammyjunn said:
Errm that's quite a while right? The last through ball I remember was the LA Galaxy when Herrera gave that, how many matches since.
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Quite a while? What last season? And Herrera was doing it on Saturday in the first half.
 
It'd be a crime against football to get Di Maria and then try to shoe horn him into a CM position. He'd be the first option on either wing if he comes.
 
Sammyjunn said:
Yeah but even off to ball, do you reckon than when you give him a through ball, he wont be faster than defenders most of the time?
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I think he will, most defenders at least. He's one of those people that looks slow when they're running, but in actual fact he really isn't. He may not be as you say, Bale speed, but the pace he has is more than enough to compliment his main attributes. Look how many goals RVP has scored by his positioning to pull off the last man and beat a defender to the through ball, and he's slow lol.
 
sammsky1 said:
433 like you have outlined, Im convinced of.

I meant a formation like

Herrera, Di Maria
Januzaj, Mata, Rooney
Van Persie

Does he have the defensive nous to play in that position?
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Uhm, why would a world class winger start as a 6?

Maybe a 4-3-3... or really a 4-1-3-2... like this

-----------Herrera----------
Januzaj-------------Di Maria
-----------Mata------------
-------RvP----Rooney------

Obviously a bit offensive in nature but that might be how you sort that set of players... just a thought.
 
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