How will Angel Di Maria fit into Van Gaal's plans for Manchester United?

The British transfer record has been smashed, the contract has been signed, the farewell letter has been written and the new car has been presented. Angel Di Maria is now officially a Manchester United player. Now off to the matters on the pitch — where will the wiry Argentine play? Louis Van Gaal has tinkered with his tactics more than you think. Against Swansea, the injury to Jesse Lingaard forced him to rejig his defence and play Ashley Young at left back — allowing Nani and Adnan Januzaj to play as traditional wingers. With Di Maria on his roster now, he has already praised his versatility saying: “I have bought Di Maria because he can play inside and wide. It’s very handy.” [caption id=“attachment_1684485” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Van Gaal and Di Maria. (Man United Twitter)[/caption] While Van Gaal is open to in-match changes, it’s hard to see him not start in a 3-5-2 on Saturday with both Argentine players Marcos Rojo and Di Maria in the lineup. Rojo will slot into a back three with Tyler Blackett most likely missing out — and while that is an easy decision — what’s not is where to play Di Maria. Shuttling midfielder: Di Maria comes at the back of a phenomenal season with Real Madrid playing through the middle. It was a Carlo Ancelotti masterstroke which allowed him to utilise Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema alongside ‘Noodle’ — and it worked wonders. Di Maria laid on 26 goals (in all competitions) for his teammates and ended his season as man of the match in the Champions League final. Playing with Sami Khedira/Xabi Alonso and Luka Modric in midfield, Di Maria was the dribble-pass-move player for the Los Meringues — their most vital cog and one which allowed more talented attackers to counter at electric speed. The job sounds simple, but hardly is: fill holes left by your attackers. In essence, it would mean filling in for Wayne Rooney in the middle when he goes wide, going wide when the winger cuts in, collecting the ball from Ander Herrera/Michael Carrick when Juan Mata streams forward and so on… it’s a high-intensity free role designed to open spaces — and as shown with his 23 crosses and insane run to set up the Champions League winner for Bale last season, he can do it. Ideally you would like another midfielder to do this with him and the only men capable of it are Herrera and Mata — unless Van Gaal gives Rooney the freedom to roam with Di Maria. The two in tandem could cause havoc and allow the central pairing to maintain shape at all time. Winger/wing-back: There is no traditional winger in the 3-5-2 system, so if Van Gaal wants Di Maria to play out wide, it will have to be as a wing-back or he switches to a 4-3-3 (like we saw with Argentina at the World Cup and at Real Madrid) — with Di Maria the ‘wide midfielder’ on the right. That would mean playing a similar player at the other end (Januzaj or Mata) with only one distributing midfielder in the center. It would also mean shunting Rooney out wide with Robin Van Persie the primary striker. Number Ten: This means Mata going out wide or left on the bench — which would mean seeing very little of him in creating play. It was a disaster at times last season and with seven goals from eight games in a United shirt, it would be foolish to move the Spaniard out of position. But if push comes to shove, Van Gaal won’t shirk from making the tough decision. Playing Di Maria behind Rooney and Van Persie sounds delectable — and would fit in completely in the 3-5-2 system. But the temptation to play all four — Mata, Rooney, RVP and Di Maria — together may be too much for even Van Gaal to resist.