5 players who have revived their careers this season
“You cannot judge a man on one swallow” – Sam Allardyce hilariously mixed-up the idiom ‘One swallow does not a summer make’ when speaking about Jan Kirchoff’s disaster of a debut against Tottenham Hotspur, where he conceded a penalty and deflected a shot into his own net.Kirchoff’s 31 minute cameo did not do much to endear the former Bayern Munich defender to the Sunderland fans, but Allardyce’s sentiment is still valid. It is easy to denigrate the average footballer when the chips are down, but only the special footballer can return from the footballing wilderness.Here are 5 footballers who have revived their floundering careers this season:
#1 Angel di Maria
Manchester United paid a British record transfer fee of £59.7 million for Angel di Maria’s services. The Argentine enjoyed a bight start to his Old Trafford career, but it went south after a hamstring injury, which meant a complete loss of form that kept Di Maria out of a United side that was struggling to be creative.
The 27 year old struggled to adapt to Louis van Gaal’s tactics, and left Manchester United for Paris St. Germain in the summer, saying “I made a very good start and then I got injured. Things weren’t quite working for me and Van Gaal changed my position. It’s difficult to adapt to Van Gaal. I had a number of flare ups with him.”
Having scored only 4 goals for United throughout the season, eyebrows were raised when Laurent Blanc authorized a £46 million fee to entice him to France. However Di Maria has repaid his manager’s faith in kind, as he’s been one of the best players in Ligue 1 this season.
With only half the season gone, Di Maria has been involved in 24 goals this season, having scored 12 along the way as PSG have a staggering 21 point lead at the top of the table at the end of January. The quality of Di Maria’s strikes have been wonderful as well, the Argentine’s stunning first time volley against Angers and his mazing solo goal in the League Cup last week against Toulouse revealing the depth of his quality.
With Manchester United struggling at the top end of the pitch, the Old Trafford faithful would do well to look away from France, where the player they were glad to be rid off is tearing up Ligue 1.