After a bleak campaign last season that ended with a surprise triumph in the FA Cup, Erik ten Hag and Manchester United have a massive ten months ahead of them in the Premier League.
Unfortunately, while the Dutchman’s side were able to win their opening game against Fulham last month, they have since lost away to Brighton & Hove Albion and, even worse than that, at home to Liverpool.
The three-time European Champions will need their attacking players like Alejandro Garnacho, who enjoyed a brilliant campaign last year, and Marcus Rashford, who wasn’t quite as effective, firing on all cylinders from here on out if they are going to break back into the Champions League places come May.
Interestingly, though, a former United flop who was sold almost a decade ago actually managed to outscore both wingers last season.
Garnacho and Rashford’s 23/24
Okay, so while United were rather dismal in the league overall last season, Garnacho actually enjoyed a relatively successful year for someone his age.
For example, in 50 appearances, the 20-year-old winger racked up a haul of ten goals and five assists, meaning he averaged a goal involvement every 3.33 games, which for a side with the 15th worst underlying numbers in the league, per Understat, isn’t bad going.
Moreover, while he has been in the side for some time now and has therefore become a recognisable face to the fans, he is well ahead of where most attackers are at his age, as according to research by The Athletic, wide players hit their peak at around 26 years old.
Now, while the Madrid-born dynamo can look back on last season as a year of progression, unfortunately, Rashford cannot. In fact, it was undeniably a campaign in which he regressed.
In 22/23, the Manchester-born star was practically unplayable and ended the season with a ludicrous tally of 30 goals and 11 assists in 56 matches, while last year, he could only manage eight goals and six assists in 43 appearances.
This means he went from averaging a goal involvement once every 1.36 games to once every 3.07 games in the space of a year, so it’s not hard to see why some fans are starting to lose their patience with him, especially as he has yet to open his account this season.
So, it would be fair to say that between Rashford and Garnacho, it was a season of mixed fortunes last year, although both were outperformed by a former United flop who left almost a decade ago.
Ángel Di María’s 23/24
Yes, the player in question is none other than World Cup winner Ángel Di María, who joined Louis Van Gaal’s United side for about £60m in August 2014, scored four goals and provided 11 assists in 32 games, and then left the following summer to join Paris Saint-Germain for about £44m.
Now, while the Argentine icon did put up some pretty impressive numbers for the Red Devils, he didn’t quite set the world alight as many hoped.
Moreover, he later revealed that several factors, including a break-in and disagreements with Van Gaal, meant he had to leave, and considering he recently labelled the Dutchman as the “worst manager” he’s ever played for, we imagine that was the main factor.
The Rosario-born dynamo spent the next seven seasons playing in Paris, where he picked up five league titles, before moving to Juventus for the 22/23 campaign, in which he managed a return of eight goals and seven assists – oh, and he also won the World Cup that December.
In the summer of 2023, he made what is likely to be his final transfer and rejoined his first club, Benfica, where he has since been tearing it up.
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Di Maria vs Garnacho vs Rashford in 23/24 |
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|---|---|---|---|
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Player |
|||
|
Appearances |
48 |
50 |
43 |
|
Goals |
17 |
10 |
8 |
|
Assists |
15 |
5 |
6 |
|
Goal Involvements per Match |
0.66 |
0.30 |
0.32 |
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All Stats via Transfermarkt |
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Last season, the “outstanding” winger, as talent scout Jacek Kulig described him, scored 17 goals and provided 15 assists in 48 matches, meaning he averaged a goal involvement once every 1.5 games for the Portuguese giants, thus outscoring the two United wingers.
However, the caveat here is that while Liga Nos is stronger than most people give it credit for, the level of competition is still lower than that of the Premier League, and while he’s had a brilliant career since leaving Old Trafford, selling him was the right thing to do for all parties involved.
