Key Soccerlytics Insights:
- Not for the first time in his career, Carlo Ancelotti appears to have transformed a very good player into a potential world-class player by converting Angel Di Maria from a traditional winger into all round central midfielder
- Ancelotti is arguably responsible for turning Andrea Pirlo into the word-class deep-lying playmaker he is. Prior to featuring for AC Milan under Ancelotti, Pirlo was a traditional "trequartista" and never quite convinced in that role. It wasn't until Ancelotti decided to move Pirlo into a "regista" role sitting in front of the defense and dictating the tempo of the game, that he developed into the star we know today
- While Di Maria was (and still is) a wonderful winger, he certainly isn't in the same class as Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale. Many eyebrows were raised when Ancelotti/Real Madrid decided to sell Mesut Ozil to Arsenal last summer, but few were aware of Ancelotti's plan to deploy Di Maria in central midfield where his dynamism and athleticism would serve Los Blancos so well
- To cap off a terrific season in his new role, Di Maria was named man of the match in the recently played champions league final. In addition to his remarkable run that led up to Bale's eventual winner, Di Maria led Europe's top 5 leagues this year with 17 assists (72.2% final third passing accuracy), ahead of traditional playmakers such as Cesc Fabregas. Di Maria also finished the season second in the category of "best chance creator" with an average of 0.83 big chances created per game (See BSports Top Assist Men charts below)
- Despite not playing out on the wing, Di Maria still also managed to finish the season as the second best crosser in Europe's top 5 leagues with 1.82 accurate crosses per game and a crossing accuracy of 26.4% (See BSports Top crossers charts below)
- With Di Maria set to also star in his new role this summer for Argentina, it'll be interesting to see if he will decide to continue at Real Madrid, with reported interest from the likes of Arsenal, Manchester United, Juventus, PSG and Monaco. He is currently valued at 30M Euros by transfermarkt.com
