Manchester United's transfer business in the first few years following Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement was underwhelming to say the least.
David Moyes failed to add any substantial quality to a side that needed major rejuvenation, with Marouane Fellaini and Juan Mata the big money editions in 2013/2014. It didn’t do the Scot much good as he was sacked before the season was finished and Louis van Gaal took over that summer.
Ed Woodward certainly backed the Dutchman in the transfer window, giving him the licence to splash the cash on players such as Marcos Rojo, Ander Herrera, Luke Shaw and Daley Blind, while striker Radamel Falcao arrived on a season-long loan deal form Monaco for a fee of £6m.
His biggest mistake, however, was signing winger Ángel Di María from Real Madrid, despite the hype surrounding his arrival, the move ended up being a colossal waste of money.
How much did Ángel Di María cost Man United?
Woodward spent £59.7m on the Argentinian winger – then a British record – and it was a move that certainly excited the Old Trafford faithful.
Here was a player who had just scored in the Champions League final for Real against Atletico Madrid, before helping his country reach the World Cup final (although he would miss the game due to injury) and it appeared as though the Red Devils were getting a wonderful player.
He proved to be a massive disappointment at United during his only season at the club. The winger did score four goals and registered 12 assists in 32 appearances, yet he only showed glimmers of his vast talent in the Premier League.
His problems lay with Van Gaal, with winger saying after he left the club that he “only had problems with coach [Louis van Gaal] here." And judging by his renaissance upon leaving Manchester to join Paris Saint-Germain, he certainly appears to have a point, despite his poor performances on the field.
He played nearly 300 times for PSG, scoring 93 goals across all competitions and having left the Ligue 1 side to join Juventus, he is proving age is no barrier this term, not only scoring eight goals for the Italian side, but also winning the World Cup with Argentina.
He clearly wasn’t the right fit for United and across his 49-week spell at the club and Tom McDermott even claimed that the signing of Di Maria, among others, was “catastrophic” and his season-long stint certainly proved to be a massive disappointment.
Indeed, across those 49 weeks, Di Maria cost United a staggering £72.7m – his £59.7m transfer fee plus £13m in wages during his only campaign – and transfers like this only set the club back further.
It's taken nearly ten years, but under Erik ten Hag, United finally have a manage who knows his stuff in the transfer market and hopefully there won't be any repeats of deals like this.