Man Utd still lacks balance despite Angel Di Maria arrival

Angel Di Maria is one of the best players in the world. A skillful attacker he is capable of single handedly changing a game and is good enough to grace absolutely any squad in club football.

He is not, however, worth the staggering $100 million fee Manchester United are reported to have splashed out on the Argentinian and Di Maria is definitely not the player to resolve the complete lack of balance in the current squad.

Assuming Louis Van Gaal continues to play three at the back, and having done so all preseason it would be senseless to suddenly change formation now, the only position in the side which suits Di Maria is the solitary attacking midfield role.

This position is currently occupied by Juan Mata and sought after by Marouane Fellaini, Shinji Kagawa, Adnan Januzaj and Wilfred Zaha who between them cost the club a cool $170 million.

While the problem of fitting so many similar players into a system is one which Van Gaal might relish the expenditure on Di Maria becomes more surprising when you take into consideration how urgently Man Utd need reinforcements in other areas.

Two out and out wingers were forced to play at wing back during the disappointing draw with Sunderland on Sunday and neither Ashley Young nor Antonio Valencia seemed at all comfortable in this unfamiliar role while Tom Cleverley and Darren Fletcher both failed to convince at the base of the midfield.

Man Utd’s problems were exasperated when Chris Smalling limped off with a groin injury forcing Van Gaal to field two complete novices, Michael Keane and Tyler Blackett, in the heart of the defence. Di Maria brings some much needed quality to the side but he won’t solve any of the aforementioned deficiencies.

Van Gaal is left with an embarrassment of riches in the attacking midfield role as well as four out and out strikers in Robin Van Persie, Wayne Rooney, Javier Hernandez and Danny Wellbeck but there is no-one in the squad who looks capable of filling the all important central positions once occupied by the likes of Roy Keane and Paul Scholes.

In this context Di Maria starts to look like something of a luxury item, particularly when you take into consideration that he cost approximately twice as much as Cesc Fabregas, Alexis Sanchez and Diego Costa, three player of comparable quality who all moved from La Liga to the English Premier League this summer.

Costa had a release clause written into his contract so that is a slightly disingenuous comparison but there is no doubt that Man Utd have paid top dollar for Di Maria which seems the footballing equivalent of buying  state of the art stereo system for a car that is desperately in need of a new engine.

If Van Gaal can find a system which suits Di Maria, Mata, Rooney and Van Persie he will have an extraordinary array of attacking talent on the pitch but accommodating all four into a formation will be no easy task. The Argentinian is the most exciting player Man Utd have had at their disposal since Cristiano Ronaldo left but he still represents something of an extravagance given the unbalanced state of the current squad.