Spanish giants, Real Madrid, ensured that they inserted a clause that prevented Angel di Maria from joining Liga rivals Barcelona when they sold the Argentine to Manchester United. The current Paris Saint-Germain man moved to Old Trafford in the summer of 2014 and any move from there to Barcelona would entail the Manchester club to pay Madrid a hefty 'fine'.
Football Leaks have now released the contractual papers that were involved and signed on when Angel di Maria moved to Manchester United. According to those papers leaked, United would've had to pay the Los Blancos €50m if they sold him to Barcelona by the end of the 2015 summer transfer window.
If they sold him anytime before the end of the 2016 summer transfer window, they'd have to shell out a mammoth €40m 'fine' for doing so. Likewise, if they sold di Maria to any other Spanish club who then went on to concurrently sell him to Barcelona – or another Liga rival – the fine would still apply.
The contract also confirms that Ed Woodward paid Real Madrid a whopping €75m for di Maria and that the payment for the man was to be done so equally on different dates: one within 10 days of the contract being signed, the second on or before Aug 5, 2015, and the third on or before Aug 5, 2016.
United would also have to pay Real Madrid €1m every year if they qualified for the group stages of the Champions League and a total of €5m for if the Argentine was on the final three-man shortlist for the prestigious FIFA Ballon d'Or trophy.
Here's the excerpt of the contract leaked:
Angel di Maria was sold to Parisian club Paris Saint-Germain for £44,4m in the summer of 2015 after a horrible spell at Old Trafford – where his performances on the pitch were a shadow of those at Real Madrid. With Real Madrid having insisted on the fine, it's clear why Manchester United didn't even look at Spain to offload the creative attacker.
