Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal not surprised by Angel Di Maria's struggles

Van Gaal broke the British transfer record to sign Di Maria from Real Madrid last summer, but after a bright start his star has faded quickly.

The Argentinian has not scored in the Premier League since the first week of October and has provided eight assists despite costing the club £59.7million.

On Saturday Di Maria put in possibly the worst performance of his career against Sunderland and he was substituted at half-time.

As Van Gaal pointed out, Di Maria is not the only player to have struggled at United this year. The Dutchman believes many of his summer signings have found it hard to hit the ground running and he believes they may all take 12 months to acclimatise to the Premier League and the surroundings.

"The first season is always difficult," the United boss said.

"You can say it to every player we have bought: (Luke) Shaw, (Daley) Blind, (Ander) Herrera, (Radamel) Falcao and also Di Maria.

"For me it is not a big surprise, it is more a big surprise (if) he (had) adapted as quickly as possible.

"In the Netherlands, Spain and Germany I had the same experience with players.

"We have to give him time, not just for him but to all the other players.

"(The time frame) is dependable on the individual as there are so many different aspects of the game, of the match but also of the culture in the country."