Pedro controls a cross for Barcelona against United in a friendly last month. The Spain winger is expected to be on his way to Old Trafford this week

It was unashamedly a shotgun marriage, born of mutual convenience, but, as Ángel Di María completes his messy divorce from Manchester United, there will be a rare shortage of doom-mongers who can nod sagely and say: “I told you so.”

Di María and United looked like a great match. No, not the perfect match — England would never be the dream destination for any South American footballer — and, at £59.7 million, he was extraordinarily expensive for a player who Real Madrid were keen to sell, but it seemed unimaginable last August that within 12 months the Argentinian would be sold at a loss to Paris Saint-Germain, joining Juan Sebastián Verón and Andriy Shevchenko on a list of world-class players who left the Barclays Premier