£59.1million is quite a lot of money, and when Manchester United's Ed Woodward put his moolah where his mouth is and landed Angel di Maria, waves rippled through the Premier League. It was after all an English record, and those things are hard to break.
It is well known that the arrival of £86 million-rated superstar Gareth Bale a year earlier (2013) and that of newly crowned World Cup winner Toni Kroos and World Cup Golden Boot winner James Rodriguez in the year of the transfer (2014) had pushed di Maria to the exit.
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Big things were expected from the ex-Real Madrid man, but after having a torrid time at Manchester – his house was broken into, his family was unsettled, and he didn't particularly enjoy playing under Louis Van Gaal. 3 goals and 10 assists in 27 games is not what the man is capable of, as he showed the very next year with PSG – bagging 10 goals and 18 assists in 29 Ligue 1 appearances for the noveu-riche outfit.
The thing is though, if Barcelona had got their wish di Maria may never even have moved to Manchester United.
As per reports, the Catalan club were very interested in signing the Argentine winger (who is also known to be close friends with Lionel Messi). That summer, La Blaugrana were in search of an attacker to compliment Neymar Jr. and Lionel Messi, and as per Mundo Deportivo, Luis Enrique was keen on getting him on board.
Also, Read - Barcelona plotting sensational move for Real Madrid midfielder Isco
Real Madrid, though, flatly refused to do business – no player has directly moved between the two sides since Javier Saviola moved to Real (on a free) in 2007, and Perez wasn't going to let that break under his tenure.
The breakdown of talks and the rebuffal for di Maria is not said to have a direct impact on this – but later that year Barcelona did get a new striker to line up with Neymar and Messi. A certain Luis Suarez.
Meanwhile, it is believed that Barcelona are also keeping an eye on Isco, as Spanish magician will be a free agent in 2018 if he doesn't renew his contract.
If Real had agreed to Enrique and co. and allowed Di Maria to move to Barcelona, do you guys think that Messi – Neymar – di Maria would have been a better trio thatn Messi – Suarez – Neymar?
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