Di Maria >>> Messi

Bénin wrote:I knewwwwwwww, lol since his first year at Benfica . on fifa , i was always buying him even when he wasn't that good.

he is class , i hope RM won't destroy him . He is not as popular as some players but he is just amazing. I'm happy messi have him as teamate in Argentina

I remember him ever since I saw that goal where he won the Argentina U21 WC or something? But still, never expected him to improve so fast at Real and become such a top player this quickly.

Great thread title.

Arrived at Juve, first signing of the summer.

The thread title just reminded me of how much of a goldmine Argentina is when it comes to football.

They give the world Di Stefano, then Maradona then a few decades later, they send Messi. That's three generational players produced in an almost back-to-back fashion.

I'm not even going to mention their other unbelievably talented players because the list is endless.

You know, winning the world cup on two occasions is a lot for most countries, but not for Argentina. Considering all the elite players they have had, two WCs is definitely not enough. They should be up there with guys like Brazil with 5.

10 years of being right on GL

Where do we see Di Maria vs Robben or Ribery?

He's had, IMO, a very interesting career. It's difficult for me to say he's ever been one of the top 5 best players in the world, even at his best. But he's been incredibly impactful everywhere but United, and he's been very successful. It's also weird that, in todays game where wingers are generally expected to score, he's been as successful as he's been while being a mediocre finisher.

He's in the twilight of his career now, I'm interested to see what he can do at Juventus.

It’s not difficult to say that he has never been a top 5 year in any season.

@Nick you can make a case for 2013-2014.

I don’t think so because he was having a forgettable season that year until Carlo shifted him to a more central role and his performances improved. With him it was more about fitting him into a role that enhances the squad, rather than him lifting the team with elite performances. So half a year with good performances is not enough for me

He's always been a "supporting cast" type of player. He's never been the star of the team because of the teams he's played on. Though you can argue that's just not who he is. He's better suited to being an X-factor, a secret weapon that you unleash.

Sometimes that's just how it goes. I mean look at Iniesta. He's a level above Di Maria and he's never really been the focal point of a team.

Mr Nick09 wrote:It’s not difficult to say that he has never been a top 5 year in any season.

You've misread a bit there although I worded it oddly. I said it's difficult for me to say he HAS been one of the 5 best in the world at any point. I'm agreeing with you. As great as he's been in his career, I can't say he's ever been top 5. Top ten? Closer...he might not even be there either. Great career though

Meh, he had a very average run at Madrid, except for one half season, then he was bust at ManU, and at PSG, he was mostly a sub which I would rate as average again.

How you can call that a great career is beyond me?

He wasn’t a sub at PSG until Messi joined. What are you on about?

Di Maria came in as a sub 18 times in Ligue 1 from 2015/16 - 2020/21. He played 197 matches.

The only big CL matches he was benched in during that time was against Madrid in 2018.

50/50 in terms of him being a starter or sub this past year.

If MNM was healthy, 100% a sub.  But Neymar misses so much time and Messi missed early games too... so he got to play more than expected. In terms of stats:

Ligue 1 - 19 starts, 7 subs = 26 total appearances
CL - 3 starts, 2 subs = 5 total appearances

He played 1 cup game as a sub... so 32 total appearances, 10 of which were as a sub.  5 goals and 8 assists total.

Reason I say 50/50 is because he didn't play 13 games in Ligue 1 and also missed 3 in CL.  So in 46 total possible games, he started 22. (to me, Neymar was a sub much too. You can't be a regular if you're not there to play whatever the reason)

To me, he's a super-sub with some spot starting duty going forward.  Still has plenty of skill.  He just can't sustain it for more than 65 mins at most...  so to me, you want to keep his legs for big games and bring him in as a sub otherwise.

@cbarca, imo di maria isn't better than robben. he had a better madrid career than robben did, and i prefer di maria to robben but i think robben was the better player....very close though. i think robben and di maria are both better than ribery. when ribery was politicking himself, shaking hands and kissing babies to get the golden ball, i was astounded, i remember feeling like he isnt even the best player on his team

certain madrid fans liked to call maria a headless chicken on the rw, but when him and ozil where there, i preferred him to ozil. just not a fan of a player getting tired after 65 minutes of every game

The year RM won La Decima... I felt Di Maria was the best player that season.  Even better than CR.

@Bill for his Man U spell read his wife's comments about England and Manchester, it sounds like they didn't really settle in