The Hero and the Coward 6 Aug 2015 22:08

By Frank Mead, Editor

This week Manchester United said goodbye to two South American players, both of whom made their presence felt in their respective spells at Old Trafford. One leaves a hero, who will be welcomed back with open arms by the fans anytime he comes back as an opposition player, whereas the other, judging by the reaction of United fans all over the world, clearly wont!

Contrast

The differences between these two players could not be clearer. Angel Di Maria, a world superstar and supposed big game player, caused huge excitement when joining Manchester United last summer. He had been voted Man of the Match in the Champions League Final just a few months earlier, and was a key component of the Argentina side who narrowly finished as runners up in the World Cup.

Rafael, on the other hand, came to Old Trafford as a teenager along with his identical twin brother, Fabio. Both of them made their debut in the 2008 – 09 season, and both looked earmarked for greatness. Whatever their shortcomings, both players were immensely popular at United, with both fans and team mates alike. The only similarity between both players, apart from being South American, is that neither Di Maria nor Rafael lived up to their potential at Old Trafford.

Rafael

After just a few outings in the United first team, Rafael was being talked about as Gary Neville’s successor (with his left footed brother being touted as Evra’s eventual replacement), finishing that season shortlisted for the PFA Young Player of the Year. One thing that impressed the fans was his attitude – totally fearless, refusing to be intimidated by even the biggest of opponents (he probably would have fancied his chances against Roy Keane or Duncan Ferguson), on one occasion standing up to three Liverpool players, all of whom were bigger than the 5 ft 8ins Brazilian. He also worked his arse off every single game, his work rate never in question.

Going forward, he is as talented as any full back I can name, and has scored some terrific goals for the Reds. In Fergie’s last season, he scored a fantastic volley at Anfield (always a way to become popular among United fans), as well as a shot against Queens Park Rangers at Loftus Road, which would probably still be rising even now if the back of the net hadn’t stopped it. His first goal for United in 2008, though little more than consolation in a 2 – 1 defeat to Arsenal, was a curling shot with his left foot that was hit so well everybody was speculating that it was Fabio, wearing his brother’s shirt.

Yet, despite his mammoth work rate, he would still get caught out of position. In fairness, Brazil is not a country famed for producing defence-minded players, and this was shown time and time again. This often led to United finding themselves a goal down – or man down, as his impetuousness caused him to commit several fouls, which usually cost United dearly. The first example of this came in 2010, in the Champions League Quarter Final against Bayern Munich. United were still leading on aggregate at this stage, but found themselves up against it when Rafael committed a needless foul on Franck Ribery, earning a second yellow card and leaving his side a man down after just five minutes of the second half. Another Bayern goal sent United crashing out of the competition on away goals.

The following season, he earned another early bath following a second yellow card, in a 0 – 0 draw at Tottenham, a match United may have won if they’d had eleven men, but who knows? His final sending off came in a 1 – 0 defeat at Old Trafford to Chelsea. The game itself was a dead rubber, with United having already sown up the league title, but David Luiz’s play acting (and the subsequent smirk that accompanied it when the referee wasn’t watching) suggested Rafael had been a bit cheated by his fellow countryman.

Another area that let Rafael, and especially his brother, down was his injury record. As previously mentioned, the fearlessness both players displayed ended up costing them on several occasions, and while they weren’t usually injured for long, it didn’t seem to take much to injure either of them.

Although a regular under David Moyes (unlike his brother, now plying his trade with Cardiff City), when Louis van Gaal became United manager last year it soon became apparent that the Brazilian’s wayward and unpredictable style of play was not going to impress the Dutchman. The penalty that Rafael gave away at Leicester in that ridiculous 5 – 3 defeat probably sealed his fate, because it was such an unnecessary foul to give away. In fact, Rafael barely touched Vardy, but he went after him like he was going to tear his head off, believing he had been fouled, and just the slightest touch saw the Leicester player felled. Suddenly a game in which United had been leading comfortably, and deservedly, was 3 – 2, which fired up Leicester and seemed to deflate United. Rafael only started a further four games for the club, and made a handful of substitute appearances.

His final appearance for the Reds came in the 3 – 0 win over Tottenham, with just three minutes remaining, with van Gaal preferring to use winger Antonio Valencia at right back in the final months of the season. He signed a four year deal with French club Lyon earlier this week.

Di Maria

There’s no denying that the signing of the Argentinian forward shocked the rest of the Premier League. For years he had been linked with United, City, Chelsea and Arsenal, but Madrid only tend to sell a player when they don’t want him any more – that should have set alarm bells ringing for a start.

Di Maria had an unbelievable 2014, with Real manager Carlo Ancelotti seemingly getting the best out of him, but with it being a World Cup year, it was inevitable that anyone who lit up the tournament would have a good chance of ending up as the latest of Madrid’s “galácticos”, and so it proved when James Rodríguez was signed from Porto, effectively to take Di Maria’s position.

Di Maria seemed like the kind of “trophy” signing that United fans had been craving for years, and he didn’t come cheap, illustrated by the British record £59.7 million transfer fee. In many ways, it was reminiscent of when Manchester City were first taken over by Sheikh Mansoor, and brought Robinho in from Real Madrid. It was almost a statement of intent, to show that the club can attract the big names, but no matter how much money is on offer, Madrid wouldn’t have sold either player if they were really worth keeping.

In his first few games, it seemed it would be money well spent as he scored three goals in his first five games and seemed to terrorise opposition defences. As the season wore on, and the weather got colder, his effectiveness dwindled. Following a missed sitter against Arsenal at the Emirates, he was sidelined with injuries but made a goalscoring return to the side against Yeovil Town in the FA Cup.

For the rest of the season, he was in and out of the side, and by now there were whispers coming from those who are supposedly in the know that all was not well in the Di Maria household. Having recently been burgled, he was quoted as being “unsettled” in Manchester. His ridiculous sending off against Arsenal in the FA Cup was followed by a marvellous assist for Juan Mata’s second goal in the win at Anfield a fortnight later. Hot and cold.

He didn’t start another game until the final game of the season, against Hull City – and that was cut short, with Di Maria having apparently suffered a hamstring injury. Judging by the look van Gaal gave him as he walked off, he clearly wasn’t convinced. Di Maria finally got his “dream” move to Paris Saint Germain this week, with United taking a £15 million loss on the Argentine winger.

Final Thoughts

There has been a lot of joking on social media this week that Rafael is going to break Di Maria’s legs when Lyon play PSG this week. Although there is nothing to suggest that this is the case, Rafael could be forgiven for feeling a little bit bitter about his former team mate’s behaviour during the last few months. You get the impression that Rafael would have happily spent the remainder of his career at Old Trafford, if Louis van Gaal had even given him the slightest glimmer of hope that he could resurrect his United career. He wore his heart on his sleeve every time he pulled on that red shirt, and whatever his shortcomings as a player may have been, there was no lack of effort. The lad clearly loves the club.

On the other hand, Di Maria has all the talent you could wish for, pace to burn and technical ability to die for. Yet as soon as the going got tough, he could not be bothered to put the effort in. This is what separates him from the cream of the crop – when Ronaldo got kicked, even as an 18 year old kid, he got up and had another try, no matter who his opponent ws. Di Maria just seemed to retreat into his shell as if to say “leave me alone”.

During the final few months of last season, despite Rafael not even getting a look in, you never heard him going to the press about the way he was treated. When he left earlier this week, he had nothing but praise for the United and their fans, and was respectful about van Gaal. Despite being gutted about leaving, he accepted that he isn’t part of the manager’s plans, and that if he wants to add to his two caps for Brazil, he will need to be playing first team football.

The stories are that Di Maria was not only angling for a move to an inferior league, where he will no doubt look like a god amongst such mediocrity, he was trying to unsettle a number of other players into seeking a transfer. If this is true, then we are well rid of him, because no club needs a player like that in the ranks. However talented Di Maria is, if his heart isn’t in it, then we are never going to see the best out of that talent.

Sure, we have made a bit of loss on him, but if we had kept hold of him and he had played another half-hearted season, we would have been lucky to get half of the £44 million PSG are paying for him. It’s probably the best thing all round, and a good decision by van Gaal in my opinion.

On Facebook and Twitter, there are hundreds of posts declaring him a coward for his decision to move to the French league. Despite the fact that some of the greatest players ever to have played the game come from France, that they have only ever had one team crowned champions of Europe (Olympique Marseille, who were denied the chance of defending their title following a match fixing scandal back in 1993) tells you everything you need to know about that league. He has taken the easy option. With a bit of hard work, and courage, he could have been held in the same esteem as some of the other famous players who have worn our legendary number 7 shirt.

Rafael leaves Old Trafford with his head held high, his dignity intact and will be remembered fondly by the Old Trafford faithful. If United play Paris Saint Germain anytime in the near future, it will be interesting to see what type of reception Di Maria gets!