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Two of the major marquee signings of last summer were Chilean mastermind Alexis Sanchez coming to Arsenal and Argentine play maker Angel Di Maria going to Manchester United. Sanchez came for a price in the region of 35 million pounds while Di Maria came for the excruciating price of 59 million pounds. For a 24 million pound difference in price, you expect a 24 million pound difference in play.
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What happened was completely different and it is all that is needed to prove that Arsene Wenger understands his squad, how it works an who will help it, whereas Louis van Gaal and Manchester United continue to throw money at overpriced stars in the hopes that they catch on.
First, lets look at the seasons the two players had, starting with the star man, Alexis Sanchez.
Making the transition to the Premier League is a tough one. As we saw with Mesut Ozil, it is not just a matter of strapping on your boots and continuing where you left off. The styles of play are completely different and require a lot of time to adjust.
Alexis Sanchez needed no time. He literally strapped on his boots and continued where he left off. Wenger had pegged Alexis Sanchez’s skill set as one that would succeed in the Premier League and it has already paid off. Alexis was arguably the best player in the premier league last year, as he scored 24 goals across all competitions.
But his skills go far beyond just being a goal scorer. Alexis is always on the ball, no matter where it is. He is a fantastic dribbler and can turn nothing into something just like that.
Signing Alexis Sanchez will go down in the books as one of the best signings Arsenal has made.
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Then there is Angel Di Maria. Manchester United unloaded an English football record 60 million pounds for the Real Madrid attacker and to say that he was a major disappointment is an understatement. Di Maria quickly proved that the Premier League and he were not meshing.
The physicality of the league appeared too much for the Argentine and now he has been sold, as Manchester United have accepted a 45 million pound offer from PSG to unload the guy they just broke the bank on, flushing the 15 million pound difference down the toilet.
These two transfers indicate the stark contract between what Arsenal has been doing right for all these years and what Manchester United continues to do wrong. Even Arsene Wenger keyed off on it, saying via ESPNFC:
"“If we can buy the exceptional players, we can compete today, but that will not be the basis of our policy. Most of the clubs who have been successful are clubs who have done that well. You can take Barcelona or Man United, who had a generation and built their success on players who came from within. These are our values and it is our DNA and it’s important we keep that.”"
He went on to the juicy part:
"“With United’s success they have created huge financial resources and today there is no patience for them to continue to do what they did — and they have the financial resources to go with a different policy. As well, they do not have available the players like Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs and David Beckham inside the club, because youth talent is spread more through 20 clubs than it was 20 years ago.”"
As always, Arsene Wenger is spot on. Arsenal develop talent. They don’t throw money at it and hope it sticks, because it does not always work that way. In the mean time, Manchester United lack the patience to return to what they used to do, build success. Instead, they are trying to buy success and as we can see, it does not always come that easily. Sir Alex Ferguson did it right. That is why he and Arsene Wenger remain so close, they were students of the same mind set.
Angel Di Maria may have been able to adjust to the Premier League given the right time and patience, but United impetuously displayed how little patience they have and sold the guy after one lackluster year.
Mesut Ozil had a lackluster year, and look at him now.
Arsene Wenger had patience with Ozil and it has paid off massively. Di Maria could very easily have done the same, but we will never know.
Next: Predicting Arsenal's Top 5 Goalscorers