Angel Di Maria: what is his best position?

Ever since his emergence as one of Europe's brightest new South American talents while still at Benfica, Di Maria has been a player that many fans at Old Trafford have admired from afar, and coveted as a fitting addition to their team's proud history as a showcase for daring and dynamic wingers.

Yet, without wishing to dismiss the inherent romance and brilliance of a position immortalised by the football of George Best and, in the modern era, Cristiano Ronaldo, the Argentine is much more than just a wide man, even if the No. 7 shirt he now wears brings with it certain connotations.

Like so many of his new team-mates in Louis van Gaal's squad, last season's Champions League winner and World Cup finalist isn't bound to a certain, specific role, and his versatility has already been taken advantage of by the Dutchman, who has deployed him in central midfield, on the left, in the hole and even up front.

Unfortunately, while the idea of shifting players through a number of positions to exploit their full range of skills sounds promising on paper, the constant tweaking of United's set-up and lack of a settled role for Di Maria has seen the club-record signing's form slip, after initially providing so much impact shortly after his arrival in Manchester.

For many fans, Van Gaal's determination to turn this aspect of his total football beliefs into contrarian practice is an over-complication of a very simple issue: play your best player in his best position.

But what is Di Maria's best position?

Having crunched the numbers on his performances in the league this season for United, based on where he has lined up in Van Gaal's starting formations, it's clear that his role as a left-sided, central midfielder in a 4-4-2 diamond has been his most productive and successful post.

The stats only take into account the shape and set-up that the team went with from kick-off, and doesn't include switches into other alternative combinations later in the match.

From United's 0-0 away draw against Burnley in August, shortly after he joined, to the recent 3-1 home win against the Clarets, Di Maria has played 17 Premier League games, beginning as a central midfielder in van Gaal's 3-5-2 system before taking on the aforementioned left-sided role, a stint as a striker, another at the tip of the midfield diamond and even some time as a left winger.

The games and the positions he has started in from kick-off are listed below:

Yet the second-half against Burnley at Old Trafford hinted at a new role for Di Maria on the right-side of a more flat, orthodox 4-4-2, with Wayne Rooney and Ander Herrera taking up the central positions in the middle. It looked a good fit for the Argentinian, who won plaudits for looking livelier than in some of his other recent outings, having started on the left-side of the diamond as he had in previous games this season.

It was a role that may have been somewhat predictable for defenders, in that the left-footed Di Maria was likely to cut inside and shoot on his stronger foot, or try and take it down the line on his unnatural side, but it enabled the winger-cum-midfielder to take on his markers; a sight that United fans have been craving after his dribbles dropped off along with his earlier peaks in form. He attempted a total of nine take-ons against Burnley, completing an impressive six of them.

As highlighted by the table above, the midfield role on the left-side of van Gaal's 4-4-2 diamond also tends to allow the Argentine to take more opponents on, with him averaging three completed take-ons-per-game in that position, with a total of 6.4 attempted.

However that is only an average. In the 5-3 defeat against Leicester he attempted seven take-ons, completing four, and during the 2-1 win over Everton he tried to go past opponents on nine occasions, succeeding in four of his attempts.

While that might give Di Maria the highest take-on percentage rating, such is his style of play and ability to create chances out of nothing, he isn't a player who should be so harshly judged on success rates. Most of his take-on attempts are like much of his passing: daring, risky, difficult and yet potentially game-changing.

Having said that, his take-on completion rate is highest when playing in the midfield diamond, either on the left (44.1%) or at the tip of the midfield (45%). These percentages tumble in a 3-5-2, where his tendency to shoot rises, suggesting that in this position and shape chances aren't as easy for him to create, with passes and runs becoming harder to pick out and find.

As such his chances created and assists numbers-per-game aren't as high as in the 4-4-2 diamond or 4-5-1, although in the latter formation he is yet to shine as brightly as he can in the former.

Dribbles, chances and assists are what got United fans off their seats at the start of the season, as Di Maria roared into life as their new No. 7, pulling together many of the best features of the previous greats to wear the shirt. He took players on in the tradition of Ronaldo and Best, bent in perfectly weighted crosses from wide to echo David Beckham, and even looked capable of possibly one day becoming the sort of match-winning source of high-end inspiration that Eric Cantona would approve of.

Given that fans have long been crying out for van Gaal to let their new Argentinian idol resume the deeper role in midfield that wowed them during the Autumn, maybe now they took can fling some stats and dossiers of their own the Dutchman's way so that Di Maria can be unleashed through the middle once more.