da betsson： Manchester United sprung to life last season under new coach Erik ten Hag, claiming their first silverware in six years by winning the League Cup against Newcastle United before going on to qualify for the Champions League.
da bwin： His second term hasn’t quite started how he would have anticipated, losing two of his opening four Premier League matches, while none of his big money arrivals have settled in as yet.
The Red Devils splurged £169m during the transfer window on four permanent additions, Mason Mount, Andre Onana, Rasmus Hojlund and Altay Bayinder, yet none have really made an impact thus far.
The Old Trafford side have a notorious history – especially since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013 – of spending big on individuals who have failed to live up to the enormous expectations in Manchester.
The likes of Fred, Jadon Sancho, Harry Maguire and Donny van de Beek arrived at the club with plenty of talent and the chance to take the next step in their careers, yet the quartet flattered to deceive during their time at United and have cost the club millions in wages and transfer fees in the process.
One of the biggest transfer blunders in recent times, however, was that of Ángel Di María, who signed for the club during Louis van Gaal’s reign.
How much did Ángel Di María cost Manchester United?
Following David Moyes’ underwhelming time in charge of the club during the 2013/14 season, the board moved to bring in the Dutchman as his replacement and with a stellar pedigree which included a Champions League crown with Ajax along with numerous league titles across the continent, it looked like an inspired appointment.
With a few days to go until deadline day, United splashed out a then British record transfer fee of £59.7m to sign Di Maria from Real Madrid, and he went on to describe just how much he wanted to work under the former Bayern Munich coach, saying: “I have thoroughly enjoyed my time in Spain and there were a lot of clubs interested in me, but United is the only club that I would have left Real Madrid for.
"Louis van Gaal is a fantastic coach with a proven track record of success and I am impressed by the vision and determination everyone has to get this club back to the top – where it belongs.
“I now just cannot wait to get started."
For such a lavish fee, it looked as though United finally had a player who could take them back to the top of the Premier League, but the move soon turned into a disastrous endeavour.
What happened to Ángel Di María at Manchester United?
The winger had spent the previous four seasons at Madrid, scoring 36 goals and registering a staggering 86 assists over 190 matches, and it was clear that his attacking qualities would make him a dangerous threat from out wide in Van Gaal’s United side.
Unfortunately, it didn’t quite work out for the Argentinian in Manchester. He started only 20 Premier League matches across the whole of the 2014/15 campaign and in total, played just 32 games for the club as they once again failed to mount a challenge for the title or win any of the domestic cups.
A more damming statistic was that he scored just four goals across these games and this works out as roughly £15m per goal for the club in relation to his near £60m transfer fee, a massive sum of money to be wasting.
Di Maria did provide 11 assists in the league, but it couldn’t save the Red Devils from finishing in a lowly fourth spot in the table, 17 points behind champions Chelsea.
His signing, among other big name arrivals, was claimed to be “catastrophic” by Tom McDermott back in 2020 and considering how ineffective he was, while the winger stated that he had a problem with Van Gaal, saying: "These are things that happen and people took it badly. I only had problems with the coach [Louis van Gaal] here."
It’s evident his time in England was a disaster, yet the moment he left, he displayed to the continent just how good a player he was.
Where is Ángel Di María now?
United made a loss on the player, selling him for just £44.3m in 2015 to Paris Saint-Germain to end his nightmare 12-month spell in the Premier League, and he enjoyed more success in the French capital.
Not only did he register 212 goal contributions – 93 goals and 119 assists – for PSG over seven seasons, but the winger also added to his trophy haul, winning five Ligue 1 titles along with a host of domestic cups.
He joined Juventus for a single season before eventually rejoining Benfica for a second spell at the club having first arrived in Portugal back in 2007, and he is slowly approaching the end of his career.
How many times did Ángel Di María play for Argentina?
The 35-year-old has played an impressive 133 times for his country since making his debut in 2008, and although he missed the 2014 World Cup final due to injury, he more than made up for it eight years later in Qatar.
Having scored the winning goal in the 2021 Copa America final, Di Maria also netted against France in the final of the 2022 World Cup, banishing his demons from 2014 and securing Argentina’s first world title for 36 years.
His spell at United will go down in the history books as one of the worst signings the club has made over the previous 20 years, yet perhaps it was a case of right player, wrong time.
If he arrived a few years later under Jose Mourinho, would the former Madrid star have endured a more productive time in England?
Of course, this is all conjecture and the matter of fact is, Di Maria cost the club a remarkable £15m per goal during his single season for the Old Trafford side and considering how important he had been for the Spanish giants over the previous four seasons, he was a major disappointment.
Even nine years later, United seemingly still haven’t learned their lesson when it comes to big money transfers.