Manchester United Transfer News: Angel Di Maria Bid Readied by PSG, New Rumours

Paris Saint-Germain will go all-out for Manchester United's Angel Di Maria during the summer, according to Le Parisien.

Di Maria was close to joining the French champions last year but eventually moved to Old Trafford on a British transfer record fee of £59.7 million. As tweeted by Jonathan Johnson of ESPN FC, it's now expected that United will receive an offer to sell the Argentinian winger ahead of Louis van Gaal's second season in charge:

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PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi previously told Le Parisien (h/t James Robson of the Manchester Evening News) that Di Maria would have signed with the Ligue 1 club if UEFA's financial fair play rules hadn't been in place. "Last year, we were handicapped and we were clearly slowed," Al-Khelaifi said. "Without these sanctions, we can imagine that Di Maria would be at PSG this season."

UEFA handed PSG a fine and squad cap prior to the 2014-15 campaign, but Michel Platini, president of the European governing body, recently admitted restrictions could be "eased," as reported by French radio station RTL (h/t Matt Slater of BBC Sport).

Al-Khelaifi recently told the BBC's Football Focus that altering the spending rules is crucial to keeping Champions League football competitive:

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We've been telling our friends in UEFA that [the current FFP rules] really are not fair, especially now with the TV rights in the Premier League. FFP will be there, so it's going to be difficult not only for us but for the Germans and the Spanish. In four years, if they don't change it, you'll find four Premier League clubs in the Champions League semi-finals.

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As it turns out, PSG fans may be pleased that Di Maria wasn't brought in. He posted a poor first season with United, failing to hold down a first-team place in Louis van Gaal's lineup. Despite producing three goals and 10 assists in 1,645 minutes of Premier League football, per WhoScored.com, the former Real Madrid man often appeared uninterested and bored with his surroundings.

He has gained a tendency to struggle with carrying out basic tasks, including simple passes and dribbles that he would have easily executed at the Bernabeu. Van Gaal has tried him on both flanks, in central midfield and as a supporting striker, but Di Maria has yet to replicate the form that saw him thrust Madrid to Champions League success in 2013-14.

Yet the link to PSG doesn't disappear. Bundesliga specialist Clark Whitney and Sport Witness tweeted interpretations of another story following Di Maria:

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Van Gaal has a difficult situation to weigh up. If a bid comes in, he has the opportunity to cut his losses and spend elsewhere, perhaps ridding United of a future star. Di Maria has shown signs of brilliance, but his lack of consistency and fight is mightily worrying for a team that want to be pushing toward the Premier League title.

Jack Wilson of the Daily Star believes Van Gaal will have £250 million to spend in the summer before Di Maria's sale, with Gareth Bale, Ilkay Gundogan and Nicolas Otamendi lined up. Jamie Jackson of the Guardian indicates that Karim Benzema is "being monitored" by the club, perhaps to replace the outgoing Radamel Falcao.

B/R UK's Alex Dimond recently looked at who else may leave to provide room for such an investment:

Whether Di Maria stays or goes, he needs a top-quality season.

The flying winger is blessed with tremendous pace, skill and ability to assist his team-mates with quality delivery, but he showed this only in bursts during his debut year at the Theatre of Dreams. PSG will provide United with a real dilemma if they make a hefty bid.