- Man United are hoping to complete deal for Angel di Maria early this week
- But Real Madrid are holding out for £75million for the 26-year-old winger
- Di Maria said his goodbyes to Real Madrid team-mates over the weekend
- Louis van Gaal said players were 'disappointed' with 1-1 Sunderland draw
- Luke Shaw, Ander Herrera and Chris Smalling among those on injury list
- Dutch boss adamant that Ashley Young did not dive to try and win a penalty
Manchester
United hope Real Madrid winger Angel di Maria will fly to their rescue
on Monday after another dispiriting afternoon of Barclays Premier League
football at Sunderland.
United
are desperate for new players and they were in discussions with the
Spanish giants over the details of the 26-year-old’s transfer, with Real
trying to edge a proposed £68million transfer closer to the £75m mark
at the last minute.
However, both clubs have a firm desire to get the deal done and Di Maria has already said his goodbyes at the Bernabeu.
He hopes to
arrive in the North-West on Monday or Tuesday if talks are concluded to
put his name to a British record transfer that will finally bring some
light to United’s gloomy early season.
Yesterday’s
1-1 draw at Sunderland leaves Louis van Gaal’s team with one point from
two games and the scale of the challenge facing the Dutch veteran is
clear.
Van
Gaal said: ‘The players are disappointed because we thought we would
win — but still we have one point. That is not good enough for
Manchester United.
‘I
thought we lost a lot of balls in situations that I would not expect.
When you lose a lot of balls you have to run after the ball also to win
it back. You are not in the match. That was the first half. In the
second half we were dominating but you need creative passing in the last
third and that was also not so good.
'We
were dominating without creating chances and that is the purpose of the
game. That is disappointing. In USA on tour it (confidence) was much
better than now. We have to improve, but that takes time.’
United
thought they had agreed a deal with Real for Di Maria on Saturday night,
with the European champions accepting a 75m Euros (£60m) down-payment
with a further 10m Euros (£8m) to add on depending on Di Maria’s success
at Old Trafford.
However,
Real were on Sunday trying to move that fee higher in a game of
brinkmanship that both sides — and Di Maria himself — hope will not
scupper the deal.
Suggestions
that Manchester City are trying to get involved are untrue. The Premier
League champions were offered the opportunity to bid last week and
declined, despite their admiration for the player.
Di
Maria has told friends and team-mates that he will be moving to Old
Trafford this week. He said his goodbyes at training in Madrid at the
weekend and it remains to be seen if United can close the transfer.
After their
draw with Sunderland, Van Gaal — without injured new signings Luke Shaw
and Ander Herrera — said: ‘When a transfer has been finished, then we
can say something. But now, you have to wait and see. If the moment is
there then we will announce it. But we are a big club.
'We
have seven injured and now Chris Smalling (forced off with a groin
strain in the first half) makes eight, so you always need players.’
Ashley Young was booked for diving in the second half when he went down under a challenge from Wes Brown.
Van
Gaal, however, was adamant his player had not dived, as he said:
‘Normally it is a penalty. He has been touched by the opponent in the
16-metre area and when it happens like that there are referees who are
whistling. It is a risk by that (defending) player.’
From
Sunderland, who are tracking Lille’s former Chelsea forward Salomon
Kalou, there was sympathy from manager Gus Poyet, who still believes
United will finish in the top four.
‘They’re good enough to finish in the top four,’ said Poyet. ‘Marcos Rojo will be there and they are going to spend more.’
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