Angel di Maria 'happy' to swap Manchester United for PSG

Paris Saint-Germain's imminent new signing Angel di Maria has broken his silence over his move from Manchester United, stating he is "happy" to join the big-spending Ligue 1 champions.

Di Maria is very close to a move to PSG for £44.4m ($69m), according to The Daily Mail, just 12 months on from moving to the Premier League for a British record fee. The 27-year-old moved to United for a club record of £59.7m in August 2014 but endured a harrowing first campaign in English football despite leading Real Madrid to Champions League glory during the preview season.

Despite arriving amid much fanfare, Di Maria made just 20 top-flight starts for United last term and by the end of the campaign had fallen out of favour with manager Louis van Gaal after injury and disciplinary problems.

Van Gaal admitted earlier in the summer that after failing to join United's pre-season tour of the United States that he was unaware of Di Maria's location, with his eventual reappearance coming in Doha where he underwent his PSG medical.

Speaking to BeinSports, Di Maria claimed his reasoning for moving to the French capital revolved around the club's Champions League ambitions, which has seen PSG fail to progress beyond the last eight since being taken over by the Qatar Investment Authority.

"I am very happy to join Paris Saint-Germain," he said, according to Sky Sports. "What I know about PSG is that they are a team who have won all possible titles in France last season. They're very important.

"They made it to the quarter-finals of the Champions League, so my objective was to arrive to Paris and to help them through the quarter-final barrier, because they have struggled in the past two seasons. I will try to do the best I can to help the club in those objectives and reach the final stages of the Champions League."