In Angel Di Maria’s maiden season with Manchester United the Argentine has had very mixed fortunes. He started the season full of confidence, but now cuts a very lost figure. As the season comes to an end and clubs naturally look to the summer window, there is already speculation as to whether Di Maria will still be at United for next season.

Signed for a then British record of £59.7million, Di Maria joined United in August of last year. After four successful years at Real Madrid, which included winning La Decima, their highly coveted 10th Champions League trophy, Di Maria left the Spanish giants in order to find more playing time.

With the legendary number seven on his shirt Di Maria appeared to be fitting into his role quite nicely, even picking up United’s Player of the Month award for September and further confirming his positive impact during his first few months at the club.

Unfortunately, a hamstring injury suffered in late November put the player on the side-lines where he made only one substitute appearance from the following seven fixtures.

Since returning from that injury. Di Maria isn’t quite the same player who had previously been a highlight of United’s midfield. A lack of form on field and a burglary at his Manchester home made for a bad start to 2015. Then the typically composed Di Maria received a red card for an altercation with referee Michael Oliver and was slapped with a one match ban.

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The timing couldn’t have been worse as United were about to enter a difficult run of games that included Tottenham and Liverpool. Manager Louis van Gaal, who has been very supportive of the winger, took the opportunity to change the formation and opted for a 4-1-4-1 with Wayne Rooney up front and the regularly side-lined Juan Mata given the playmaker role. United performed exceptionally well with high accolades going to the Spaniard.

Even once Di Maria was available to play, Van Gaal chose to start with Mata for their trip to Anfield and Mata further reasserted his place as United’s playmaker by scoring two goals in their 2-1 win over top four rivals Liverpool.

Now during the international break United sit comfortably in fourth, but Di Maria’s future remains uncertain. The Argentina international came to United with the intention of playing regularly, but if Van Gaal continues to favour Mata or in form Ashley Young then the Argentine may quickly feel the need to throw in the towel.

Sources say that if Di Maria does decide that his United experiment was a failure then the club are ready to offer Paris Saint Germain’s Edinson Cavani a route in to to English football.

This sounds like crazy talk. Di Maria signed a huge five-and-a-half year deal just seven months ago and he has at times shown exactly why the club forked out so much for him. Cavani is having his own problems at PSG and a deal may suit him, but with only eight Ligue 1 goals this season, one more than Di Maria, what would they really be getting? United are better off persuading Di Maria to hold tight for at least one more season.

Van Gaal's side had been crying out for more creativity in their midfield and now that they have these two top players in Di Maria and Mata, they need to keep them and find a way to get them both playing together. It is only because Di Maria’s form has dipped and United are so close to qualifying for Europe why Van Gaal doesn’t want to mess with a winning formula.

But Cavani, nor anyone else that United are supposedly lining up, are no replacement for the vision and quality of Angel Di Maria and United would be foolish to think otherwise.

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