Argentina star Di Maria endured a miserable 12 months at United when he signed a four-year contract with French champions PSG on Thursday.

Di Maria's departure was not the main subject of debate about his limited days in a United shirt. Rather the cost of the transfer.

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Having moved to United from Real Madrid for £59million, he was sold to PSG for £44.3m - a loss on paper of almost £15m before his wages are taken into consideration.

Di Maria was keen to stress his disappointment about failing to justify his massive price tag as he departs the club as one of the biggest and most costliest failures.

"I write this note to thank all the Manchester United family for the great support received during the year I've been part of this club," Di Maria said in an open letter to the club's fans.

"I'm aware things didn't work as we all expected and believe me, I feel really sorry about it."

I can guarantee you it was not for trying. I did my best but football is not like maths: often a lot of things out of our control affect the way we feel and the way things turn out.

"I am sorry it did not work out as I would have wished in this amazing huge club."

Manchester United fans are not unhappy to see the back of Angel Di Maria. Image credit: Le Buzz

WHAT THE MEDIA MADE OF DI MARIA'S DEPRESSING SPELL AT UNITED

This was to be his big failure – his inconsistency. A brittle personality, he would see his confidence yo-yo and performances were affected. He was not aided by Van Gaal, though. Almost immediately the Dutchman seemed to mistrust him. This was odd because unlike, say, Luke Shaw and Ander Herrera, two other summer arrivals, Van Gaal had actively identified and recruited Di María. He was the marquee signing the manager stated was in that elite band of players just below Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Yet he became the player Van Gaal talked up before securing him and often talked down once at United. Jamie Jackson, The Guardian

OUR VIEW

Di Maria made 27 appearances for United in the Premier League, seven as a substitute. He scored three goals. For such a paltry return, it is commendable of Di Maria to apologise, perhaps even right you could argue. It is equally refreshing to learn that he is not merely a bloke interested in how much he is picking up, but what he produces. The buzz of the Premier League is hard to replicate, and probably won't be found at PSG in Ligue 1. There seems to be a realisation and a genuine regret that while he is moving to a monied club, departing United cannot be viewed as step up, despite recent opinions to the contrary by the French club's Brazilian captain Thiago Silva.

It is also not beneficial to a player's reputation to be moving on so much in his career at the age of 27. Di Maria is not completely to blame for his failure. Louis van Gaal and the United board must shoulder some of the responsibility for deciding to buy him. LVG lamented his work-rate, but this is surely an aspect of his game that should have been studied before United shelled out a British record £59m to land him. At such a whopping figure, you should really be signing the complete package, which Di Maria obviously was not. At least not in LVG's eyes. It will be interesting to discover how Di Maria fares if United come across PSG in the Champions League. These things have a habit of coming back to haunt you.

United and LVG probably don't want to come up against a player with such obvious talent who has a point to prove. Nobody has really won from Di Maria's departure.

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