Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich plan to battle their French counterparts Paris Saint-Germain for the signing of Manchester United winger Angel Di Maria, according to reports in Germany.
The Ligue 1 outfit’s interest in the Argentine international was confirmed over the weekend by manager Laurent Blanc in an interview with French media outfit L’Equipe [via Mail Sport].
Now it appears Bayern have followed suit and German publication Bild’s chief reporter Christian Falk posted a message via his official Twitter account which revealed the Bavarians are watching developments closely.
Matthias Sammer, Director of Sport @FCBayern, says, the club watches #DiMaria “currently passive”. fear of rival @PSG_inside? @ManUtd
— Christian Falk (@cfbayern) July 13, 2015
Di Maria’s future at Old Trafford looks to be in doubt following a difficult first season in English football as he appeared to struggle with the pressure of being the club’s record signing after completing a £59.7 million deal from La Liga giants Real Madrid last summer.
After scoring on his home debut against Queens Park Rangers in September, he would follow that up with a stunning effort in the 5-3 defeat by Leicester City a week later.
However, his form tailed off shortly afterwards and he found himself watching on from the substitutes’ bench more often than not towards the end of the season as manager Louis van Gaal found a winning formula that did not include the 27-year-old in his starting XI.
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It looked as if he would be at the club this season following comments before he departed for international duty with Argentina at the Copa America tournament [via Sky Sports] but it now appears his time in Manchester could be short-lived.
A deal to take Di Maria to either Germany or France could be a straight swap as there has been reports in the media that Bayern could use attacking midfielder Mario Gotze as part of the deal [via ESPN], while the former could be included as makeweight in United’s bid to land PSG striker Edinson Cavani [via Guardian Sport].
The tug-of-war is set to disappoint Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, who has been an admirer of Di Maria for a while and surprise news surfaced in Telegraph Sport last week that he was preparing a bid for the winger, although it remains to be seen whether the Gunners can prevail over the European duo.