There are some footballers on the field who
solely do the work of the rest of their team mates and still do theirs but with
very little or no appreciation from the managements of the team and a very
large and important sector of the team supporters, Di Maria while at Real
Madrid was one of such unfortunate and badly treated players. The argentine
national team player who got to Real Madrid in 2010 has done better than anyone
in the team to win a deserved respect for himself but unfortunately for him and
for the Spanish league, he has had to pack his boots to ply his trade at
Manchester united this season, for what still appeared to many football pundits
and football fans in Spain as the greatest surprise transfer in a long while.
Most of us are still asking and wondering today
if Real Madrid would have won their 10TH European cup finals if Di
Maria was not in that team, some still doubt if Germany would have beaten
Argentina at the last world cup finals in Maracana if Di Maria had been fit
enough to play in that final match to render the needed support in the attack
to Lionel Messi who was alone and could really not threaten the German defense
line in that match.
Di Maria, an explosive footballer with
mesmerizing dribbling skills arrived Real Madrid from Sporting Lisbon and has
since won himself the recognition of many football fans since then. The only
player apart from Lionel Messi with almost a 100% probability of outwitting any
defender any day with his dangerous incursions and skills, in fact, any ball
that gets to Di Maria is synonymous with danger for the opponent, the best
passer in the Real Madrid squad in the last decade, whose passes had allowed a
player like Cristiano Ronaldo to emerge as two times European highest goal
scorer.
But unfortunately something outside football
appear to have brought his professional Relationship with Real Madrid to an end
this season, after so much obvious intentions to frustrate him with so many
unhidden tactics that compromised his continuity in the first eleven. Fideo, as
he is fondly called by football fans has had to contend with the sign-up of
Gareth Bale, a player who plays in the same demarcation as Di Maria in a policy
seen more as a marketing gimmick than a sporting policy.
It is a known fact that Florentino Perez, the
president of Real Madrid is a very business conscious man, to whom the ability of
players to turn in money into the Real Madrid account through publicity and
jersey marketing is much more important than their contribution on the field of
play, this is the only obvious reason why anyone would refuse to improve the
contract of a player like Di Maria who together with Cristiano Ronaldo are the
two best and most decisive players in the Real Madrid line-up.
The arrival of Columbian wonder boy, James
Rodriguez; a skillful player but not as ground-breaking and decisive as Di
Maria this season was another slap to the face of Di Maria, who despite the
signing up of Gareth Bale last season, proved that he still had a place in the
Real Madrid first eleven. It is no secret that James Rodriguez is the kind of
player that is more appealing to Florentino Perez, a player whose 60% on the
pitch is a pass mark compared to Angel Di Maria´s 90%, because James Rodriguez
has much more possibility of being more financially proficient and profitable outside
the field than Fideo.
In the few weeks that James Rodriguez was
signed on by Real Madrid, he has sold almost the number of jerseys that Di
Maria sold in a full season. It would be
recalled that some seasons back, a similar thing happened to a Congolese born French
player, Claude Makelele in Real Madrid, Makelele, one of the best defensive
mid-fielders to ever play in Real Madrid had to abandon the team because he was
not sufficiently appreciated by the management of the team. Even Zinedine Zidane in his best moment at Real Madrid confessed that without Makele behind him he
would not have the confidence to be performing the magic he performs with the
ball, but even at that, it was surprising to discover that players whose
contribution to the team like Guti, Michel Salgado were half as much as the
contribution of Claude Makelele were all paid much more than Makelele.
Last season, in Real Madrid, it took the
recommendation of Cristiano Ronaldo for Angel Di Maria to continue in the team,
this is a great insult to a great player of the caliber and skill of Di Maria. In
the three matches that Real Madrid has played so far since the exit of Di Maria from
the team, they have shown a real lack of attitude and the capacity of reaction
which were the inborn qualities of Angel Di Maria. Yesterday night against Real
Sociedad in Anoeta, I saw a very vulgar team without any cohesion and lacking
the attitude and the charisma necessary in a big team. They were eventually trounced by 4 goals to 2.
All said and done, I wish Di Maria a splendid
season at his new club, Manchester united. I am very sure that he will soon
begin to make his impact felt in the English premiership just as we are feeling
his absence now in the Spanish La Liga.
No comments:
Post a Comment