A combination of circumstances led to Di Maria becoming unhappy and desiring for a move. As freshly as last Sunday, Van Gaal said he hoped the Argentine would stay, despite several confessions by the Dutch coach over the past year that it is counterproductive trying to keep unhappy players.
The fact is Di Maria’s victory was last in the game against Everton on October 5, Di Maria never scored agoal notuntil January 4, when United beat League One side Yeovil.
Argentina lost a friendly match 2-0 in October against Brazil in Beijing. To Di Maria who played the full 90 minutes the air quality was not good and temperatures were too high. After three days, Di Maria performed in the final 17 minutes of a friendly against the Hong Kong national side.
The trip was approximately 12,000 miles. For Di Maria who had not had any summer break because of international obligations and finishing the World Cup with a thigh injury, the long East trip must have been physically challenging.
In addition, Louis van Gaal’s hunt for his greatest formation – and Di Maria’s best position in it – meant there was little consistency to his role.
In United’s first 16 games in South America Di Maria played in six different positions including central midfield and striker.
As reliability continued to demonstrateelusiveness, Di Maria’s contribution and not scoring seemed irrelevant; he shaped only three goals in four months between October 6, 2014 and February 10, 2015.
The pelvic injury kept him out of virtue all December.
A combination of fatigue, injury, lack of form and getting used to a new country, language difficulties could all have been playing on his mind on January 31, when thieves attempted to break into his house in Cheshire.
Though the intruders did not gain entry, they smashed a glass door and the mental impact on his wife, Jorgelina Cardoso, and the young daughter, was so great that they are now living in a city-centre apartment, which, while luxurious, is hardly perfect for family life.
While at the pitch Di Maria continued to slide and a send off in the FA Cup quarter finals loss to Arsenal on March 9, worsened it all. He was substitute in six successive games following his return fro suspension He started the final match of the campaign against Hull city only to get off with hamstringinjury 23 minutes after the match begun.
Di Maria did not join the squad in the United States on their pre-season tour while his future is thrashed out.
Paris St-Germain wanted him last year and is now out.
