The Paris Saintt-Germain president Nasser al-Khelaifi has claimed that Ángel di María wanted to move to the Parc des Princes, but the Ligue 1 champions could not agree a fee with Real Madrid.

The Argentinian winger sealed a British record £59.7m move to Manchester United last week, saying: “There were a lot of clubs interested in me, but United is the only club that I would have left Real Madrid for.” Khelaifi, though, claims PSG were in fact his preferred destination.

“For two or three weeks I discussed this issue with my friend Florentino Pérez, the president of Real Madrid,” Khelaifi said in an interview with Le Parisien.

“We met twice, we made an offer, but we did not agree on the price. For me it was too expensive. It has nothing to do with financial fair play. The player wanted to come to Paris, but this was not possible.”

The French side have invested hugely in players over the past couple of years, with the arrival of David Luiz from Chelsea this summer’s marquee signing.

Khelaifi also claimed that FFP was not a fair rule and said his club would meet Uefa to urge it to reconsider. “We want to respect the rules of Uefa,” he said. “But we must discuss it again in October with them to try to change the rules.

“This is very important because financial fair play is not fair. It is sometimes difficult to understand, but in the end, the big clubs are big clubs and small clubs remain small. It not only represents the interests of PSG. If new investors can not invest in football, they will invest in Formula One.”

PSG, along with Manchester City, were handed a heavy fine in May for breaching FFP regulations.