Van Gaal admits Di Maria could be set to exit Manchester United

The clock could well be ticking towards the end of Angel Di Maria’s Manchester United career.

The Argentinean has only been at Old Trafford for a little over six months, but manager Louis van Gaal has admitted that he would be open to Di Maria’s departure if the player was unhappy and the price was right.

He arrived last August in a British record transfer of £59.7-million from Real Madrid, and made a bright start to his United career.

But his performances have nosedived in recent weeks, and he hasn’t looked anywhere near to being the player who won the Man of the Match award in last season’s Champions League Final for Real.

That culminated in a red card in Monday’s FA Cup quarter-final defeat to Arsenal when he was guilty of both diving and manhandling referee Michael Oliver.

One reason for his dip in form has been linked to troubles off the field. His house in Cheshire was attacked by burglars while the family was at home, and his wife was left deeply upset.

Di Maria has since left the property and moved into accommodation in Manchester city centre, but it has been unsettling.

Put the two factors together and it could add up to a summer exit for him, especially if Paris St Germain renew the interest they showed before he joined United.

And Van Gaal knows that you need happy players in the dressing-room to have a successful team.

“As a manager you can never say yes or no because, at the end, the player shall always decide if he stays,” he stated.

“Despite the incident with his wife at home, he is very pleased to be here at Manchester United.

“But a player is not just a man who kicks a ball from A to B. The environment around him is also an influence.

“So I shall always be open for that conversation if he wants to leave for compassionate reasons.

“But I also know the commercial interests of the club and we have to respect that.

“You cannot give a lot of money for a player, and then put him out of your selection for the next season.

“But I think Di Maria will stay. What I have seen in his reaction after the defeat and his red card is very good and I like his attitude.”

Di Maria is suspended for today’s crunch game against Tottenham as the fight for a top-four spot heats up.

The pressure is on van Gaal to make sure he gets United back in the Champions League but he is keeping calm.

“We had a bad start but in spite of that, we are a stable club in the top four,” he argues.

“When you are so long in that position after a bad start, I think we did rather well. But now is the time to show it.”