Ever since Louis van Gaal took over as manager of Manchester United, he has been preaching his ” philosophy”, which in a perfect world would be his team having possession of the ball, rarely losing it, passing it endlessly to wear out the opposition and then scoring. Now to fulfil this ambition of his, he bought in a host of new players to the club, and that included the defensive midfielder Daley Blind. He is a product of the Ajax youth academy, and son of the legendary Dutch footballer Danny Blind. Blind first caught everyone’s eyes at the 2014 Fifa World Cup with a string of intelligent performances, and his manager bought him to Old Trafford alongwith himself. While his first season was inconsistent and not very noteworthy, his second one has certainly been a lot more impressive. But how much, exactly? Let’s find out.

Stat Attack:

Squawka says that the 26 year old, who has made nearly 50 appearances this season, mostly as a center back, has won 67 tackles this season in the league with a success rate of 49%. He has made 78 interceptions, 122 clearances and 20 blocks. Moreover, he has scored 1 goal, created 24 chances, won 47% of his duels ( a poor number for a defender) and has an average pass accuracy of 84%.

Fan view:

The Dutchman isn’t physically imposing at all, but he is an excellent reader of the game and is very good on the ball when he is in the mood, and often plays spectacular long balls down the centre or to the wings. Despite his physical shortcomings, he has managed to silence the likes of Giroud, Aguero and Lukaku in important games this season, and that shows how smart a footballer he is. His partnership at the back with Chris Smalling has helped us record the 2nd least number of goals conceded this season, but there are a few dark spots on his CV as well. He has an occassion of messing up when it really matters, like he did against Wolfsburg last December and against West Ham in the last game. The full-time international was repeatedly bullied and caught off guard by bigger, stronger forwards, probably because the occassion got to him. Although Blind has been good for most parts of the season, yet his habit at faltering at the most critical moments, just like his squad, has hurt us a lot this year. Let’s hope he improves on this habit of his for the next campaign.

My season rating for Daley Blind: 7/10