Quietly Key
This article also featured Guardian Sport.
When a frustrated Ángel Di María trudged off the pitch at the Allianz Riviera back in April 2017, it seemed as if the end was in sight. That 3-1 defeat to Nice drew a close to PSG’s title challenge and it felt like Di María’s very place at the club was under threat. An intelligent Nice under the wily Lucien Favre routed PSG in a game that finished with Di María being sent off for an angry slash at Arnaud Souquet. Two years later, Di María is in the form of his life. He set up three goals in PSG’s 4-0 win against Marseille in le classique on Sunday night – and it’s difficult to imagine the club succeeding without him.
When Di María arrived in Paris in the summer of 2015 there was a sense he needed some convincing. He enjoyed a lightning start – his bullish and intense display in a close defeat to Real Madrid that November was a highlight – but quickly settled into a more sedate rhythm. Mirroring his excursion in the Premier League with Manchester United, his match-winning performances and flourishes of brilliance became rarer and rarer. Di María gave the impression he was living off his reputation and man-of-the-match in the Champions League final in 2014, which secured la décima for Real Madrid.
Were PSG really right for him? Did he truly believe in the QSI project? Were they a big enough club? With performances deteriorating even before that sending off at Nice, the answer to at least two of those questions seemed to be “no”. Di María was linked with a move to Inter and, with the usual turnover likely at PSG, he was a prime candidate to move on, create space for other players and bring in funds to appease FFP.
However, much like the rest of the continent, his view of PSG’s potential changed in the summer of 2017, when the club spent an unprecedented €400m on Neymar and Mbappé. Suddenly PSG had a forward line to rival – and maybe even beat – the very best. However, with Edinson Cavani and Julien Draxler in front of him in the traffic jam, not to mention Javier Pastore and Lucas Moura beeping their horns angrily behind, Di María was a long way from the starting XI. The club readily admitted as much, offering him to Monaco. But he – and a few of his attacking teammates – refused to move.
With the MCN strikeforce of Mbappé, Cavani and Neymar fully established at the start of Unai Emery’s second and final season at the club, Di María was largely on the bench. However, a combination of injuries and suspensions after the winter break gave him the chance to start 11 games in a row. He seized his opportunity gleefully.
There was speculation that Emery would even drop Mbappé to keep Di María in the team for the trip to the Bernabéu in the last-16 of the Champions League. Di María started neither game against Madrid – and both were lost – but he kept his place for the rest of the season and helped PSG win a domestic treble. In that time, he played like he knew his place was under threat and that he was desperate to keep it.
Although Emery was swiftly moved on to Arsenal in the summer of 2018, Di María’s outstanding form had impressed the incoming Thomas Tuchel. The new manager experimented with various modes of attack at the beginning of last season, always looking for ways to squeeze Di María into his team. He tried him on the left wing, the right wing, in central midfield, as a striker and even at wing-back.
Crucially, Di María was willing to adapt to whichever role Tuchel deemed appropriate, an obvious change in attitude compared to previous disagreements with Emery over whether he would play on the right or left wing. He finished last season with 11 assists in Ligue 1; only Téji Savanier set up more goals.
Although Mbappé’s golden boy status and the perpetual circus around Neymar divert attention elsewhere, Di María has arguably been PSG’s best player under Tuchel – particularly this season. The club’s gaze is fiercely set on winning the Champions League and some of his best displays have come on European night. With Mbappé, Cavani and Neymar all missing for the match against Real Madrid in September, it was Di María who stepped up, scoring twice in a 3-0 win.
The last 10 days have been a particularly productive for the Argentinian. Last Friday, he scored two world-class goals to put PSG out of sight of Nice, the second of which was an outrageous lob from a tight angle. He set up three goals as PSG eased past Club Brugge in midweek. And then pick up a hat-trick of assists against Marseille.
While Neymar’s skill bamboozles and Mbappé’s pace terrifies defenders, it is Di María’s vision and delicious weight of pass that have become central to PSG’s play over the last 18 months. It took €400m of arrivals and a serious fight to stay in the team, but Di María is now wholly committed. Whatever criticism his attitude has received throughout his career, Di María’s unplayable form does not look like ending any time soon.
by Adam White.
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