Real Madrid began their assault on La Liga with an unconvincing victory over newly-promoted Cordoba on Monday, producing a performance that drew whistles of discontent from the Santiago Bernabeu support. The wrath incurred from the home crowd may have been exacerbated by the fact Madrid are selling Angel Di Maria to Manchester United, a decision that could damage Los Blancos' chances of winning La Liga.
During the last campaign, which saw Cristiano Ronaldo continue his incredible exploits and Gareth Bale make some big contributions, Di Maria was a standout performer. The player named man of the match in the Champions League final is not someone that the club's supporters wanted to see depart, and with good reason.
The Argentine topped the assist charts last time round in La Liga, despite his place in the side appearing to have vanished due to the world record fee paid to secure the services of Bale. Carlo Ancelotti saw fit to convert the winger to a central midfielder, which brought an added dynamism and guile to the Madrid engine room, attributes appreciated by the Bernabeu faithful.
Ancelotti maintained that Madrid wanted to retain the services of Di Maria and offered him a new contract, but this may have been a ploy to appease the fans. In all likelihood the Italian was informed early in the summer that Di Maria would be sold to offset the investment in James Rodriguez and Toni Kroos, and the Coach has sought to distance himself from this decision by insisting he wanted the Argentinian to stay.
The onus will be on the likes of James and Kroos to fill the void left by Di Maria in terms of his assists, but they are both very different players to the outgoing man, who was not only regarded in high esteem by those linked to his own club.
Barcelona consider the sale of Di Maria to bear equal significance to themselves making a signing, and there were rumours that they wanted to acquire the World Cup runner-up, a move Madrid were not interested in sanctioning.
Additionally, Atletico Madrid boss Diego Simeone stated last week that Di Maria was the best player Madrid have, perhaps with an element of mind games or hidden agenda, but effusive praise of his compatriot nonetheless.
Madrid have only won La Liga once in the last six seasons, finishing in third place last time behind their two most fierce rivals. Overhauling Atletico and Barcelona will require not only the big money marquee signings that have been brought in, but the experience of delivering trophies at the Bernabeu and playing under the enormous pressure, something that Di Maria was clearly comfortable with.
It may take time for the new signings to bed in and the team to gel without him, which could prove costly in the formative stages of the season.
Di Maria's versatility will also be missed, capable as he is of operating in numerous positions throughout the team, in addition to the creativity he brings. It was the ability to carve out openings in the opposition half that led Simeone to hail his importance to Madrid, and it is this threat that has been removed.
The pressure is now on the new recruits to deliver from the off, should they fail to do so then the sale of Di Maria could end up being very costly for Madrid’s title chances.
