Wednesday’s preseason clash between Manchester United and Paris St. Germain really is becoming a de facto “Angel Di Maria Cup.” Of course, it’s just a friendly, and the result will have no consequence on Di Maria’s decision. However, it looks like this week will be when Di Maria swaps sides and completes his transfer between the two teams; potentially.
Angel Di Maria missed his flight from Buenos Aires in which he was to join up with the rest of his United teammates. Louis van Gaal confirmed this to the media on Saturday.
Van Gaal didn’t elaborate any further; he just said that the British transfer record signing never got on the plane. Di Maria’s teammate for both club and country, Marcos Rojo didn’t get on the plane either. Van Gaal stated that Rojo had passport issues.
Meanwhile the British tabloids claim that Di Maria will instead board a flight to New Jersey (where PSG are headquartered on their summer preseason tour) and join up with the French champions instead. The potential fee keeps getting reported for around £46 million; meaning that if it were to happen, United would take a £13 million loss on their Di Maria investment, having only committed to the player for just one year.
PSG Coach Laurent Blanc has openly admitted to the press on prior occasions that Di Maria is one of the club’s top targets this summer, but he refused to comment on the progress of the deal yesterday.
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and writes The Sports Bank.net, which is part of the FOX Sports Engage Network. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes to the Chicago Tribune RedEye edition. He also appears regularly on numerous talk radio stations all across the country.