Former United man blitz’s Ligue 1 Team of the Week rankings

Louis van Gaal has just two jobs to save his Manchester United job is the news coming from the press after the Red Devils crashed to their third consecutive defeat in all competitions. What Van Gaal, who has repeatedly banged the drum about the importance of signing a marquee forward, would do for a player of Angel Di Maria’s quality going forward.

Unfortunately, the United boss did have Di Maria for one season after smashing the British transfer record with a £59m bid, but dispensed of the Argentina international over the summer.

Admittedly, Di Maria never wanted to be in Manchester and his time there always looked like a temporary measure to his long-term aim of joining Paris Saint-Germain, but you sense Van Gaal could have done more to get the best from the 2014 Champions League final man of the match and Argentina’s best player at last years World Cup in that one season.

It therefore comes as no surprise to see that Di Maria is already flourishing under Laurent Blanc at PSG. The former Real Madrid forward scored twice in their 3-0 win away to Caen, as Blanc’s men stretched their advantage at the top of Ligue 1 to 19 points.

Di Maria finished the afternoon as the WhoScored man of the match and also the highest rated player in Ligue 1 across the weekend’s action (9.74). Moreover, his latest man of the match display (fifth for the season) was enough to make him the fourth highest rated player across Europe’s top five leagues for the season (8.15 seasonal rating).

The 27-year-old created one more chance than the entire Caen team combined (4) and was also diligent in his defensive duties, completing two tackles and one interception.

For more stats on Angel Di Maria, click here to visit his WhoScored player page