When Angel di Maria arrived at Juventus, the expectations weren’t too high. After all, the signing felt a bit forced to many because of how much time the Bianconeri spent to convince the Argentine to arrive. But despite some ups and downs, the move has proved to be exceptional and his brace against Nantes shows that.
Di Maria’s first goal was probably one of the best of his career and he has scored a fair few brilliant goals. But that moment of magic defines how his stint at the Old Lady has been. He has been the team’s chief creator, contributing to seven goals in Serie A and he racked up three assists in the Champions League, with all of them coming in the same game as he dealt with injuries.Â
The fact that he has picked up constant injuries is a certain drawback but for someone to keep up those impressive performances at 35 despite the niggles says a lot about him as a player.
He has come up with 0.63 assists per 90 minutes, which is 99 percentile for attacking midfielders and wingers across Europe, as per FBRef. He has also played 5.8 progressive passes per 90 minutes, which is a high 89 percentile for the same gradient. He has certaintly been helped by the fact that he is playing a rather free role in an otherwise structured Juve system under Max Allegri and due to the lack of other playmakers, he is playing a fair bit.
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Kaustubh Pandey | GIFN
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