Angel Di Maria could literally be hiding from his challenges

I came across a tweet days ago, just hours after Manchester United's 3-1 triumph over Barcelona, which said that after a very good showing against the Catalan giants, United fans don't need to care about Angel Di Maria anymore. The tweet went as far as saying that United need fighters and not cowards, which actually directed labeled the Argentine as a 'coward'. And this provoked me into writing about whether the departing 27-year-old can be deemed as a 'cowardly character' or not.

As per widespread reports from inside and outside of England, Manchester United's Angel di Maria is set to seal a move to French giants PSG after a frustrating spell at Old Trafford last season. Since arriving from Real Madrid in a deal worth 59.7 million, Di Maria could never feel at home in the North West of England as his time was ravaged by injuries and burglaries at his house in Cheshire.

He was deployed in a variety of positions in every single game and although, the Argentine did rack up a total of 11 assists, but we could never witness the real Angel di Maria take to the famed, lush green Old Trafford pitch, barring that productive short stretch early on.

After yesterdays BRILLIANT Performance, who cares about Angel Di Maria! We need fighters, not cowards! #MUFC

— Billy Meredith (@UrmstonLordMUFC) July 26, 2015

Coming back to that tweet, it clearly reflects the opinion a certain host of United fans have formed regarding Di Maria. After a big money move, which of course involves a heralded player, the fans expect a lot from him, especially after his looking at his exploits at the Bernabeu. He sometimes seemed like a round peg in a square hole for Louis van Gaal, as he fiddled around with this formations and the impression that the Argentine was enjoying life in Manchester was rather meagre and namesake.

More so, the English game has been a graveyard of many foreign talents, which flourished elsewhere, thanks to the physical element present in it. Di Maria could not cope well with the physical aspect of the league, despite of his pace and this played a part in his imminently inevitable departure.

As soon as Di Maria attempted to pull off something he did succeed in pulling off back at Real Madrid, it hardly came off how he expected to. His expressions registered resignation, and it gave the look of the fact that he had given up, as he was seen wiping the sweat off his forehead with this red jersey.

There was torrent of news pieces a week after the 27-year-old made his debut that he had joined the club just because of money. United were offering him a hefty wage and those reports seemed to suggest that money had lured the dynamic winger into committing his future to the club.

Louis van Gaal himself made it public that Angel di Maria hasn't boarded his flight to the US, due to reasons he doesn't have any speck of idea about. Marcos Rojo, who was supposed to commute to the States along with Di Maria, did bother informing the club officials at the Tour that he is facing passport issues, unlike Di Maria, who didn't dare to speak out a word as to what's up with him.

He himself has spoken out that he wants to stay and desires to fights for his place at the club. But despite of all that, he is about to seal a move to the French moneybags, which is clearly suggestive of the fact that he never wants to reveal that he is moving. Even judging by his act of not informing Louis van Gaal about his absence in the US, he doesn't want anyone to know that he is switching clubs again.

We all are well aware of how much PSG are into luring players into joining them by offering an alluring amount of money as a contract. They did the same with David Luiz last season and did it even during the offset of their rise to prominence during the acquisitions of Marco Verratti, Lucas Moura and Javier Pastore. They'd offer Di Maria more or equal amount of money than United offered and as mentioned above, Di Maria already claimed that he joined United for money, he would love to move to Paris.

The other side to the story relates to his family and how secure they feel in Manchester, or Cheshire to be entirely specific. His house was pilfered during his early days in England, and a feeling of insecurity has creeped into the minds of his family and they have ostensibly struggled to find their feet, after a considerably long period near Iberia. That although, isn't ADM's fault by any means.

Family pressure has played a role in whatever has been going on. But the fact that he doesn't want to fight to correct his mistakes and defy his weaknesses suggests he is running away from hard work. He does need to bulk up his physicality, if he wants to ply his trade in England, but he's unwilling to take up a responsibility.

If he wanted, he could've stayed and could've put in some amount of hard work to get things going. That too after playing a season in which he suffered around 3 injuries and Louis van Gaal was trying to get a grip on the team by experimenting with his system. And now that LVG has probably found the system he will adhere to, Di Maria could’ve played to his strength and possibly, would’ve laid hands of some silverware too.

He's giving up, as simple as that, which is not something that is embedded into the history of the club which goes by the name of Manchester United. And the word 'coward' seems to be fit in inch perfect for someone like him. Fighting for something is something which epitomizes the attitude of the greatest football players, but Di Maria doesn’t seem to realize that.

But to be very honest, Di Maria belongs to the new crop of footballers who can be attracted very easily with the help of money. And I'm sure, as time fleets past, we would see many players do what Di Maria is doing- give up on playing for the fans, for the badge on his chest and play for nothing but money . With the amount of money that is exchanging hands these days, and judging by the frequency on which players change clubs, we will see many such players come and go.