Angel Di Maria is in "advanced talks" with Manchester United over a ￡60-million transfer from Real Madrid , which would break the British transfer record set when Chelsea signed Fernando Torres on January 31, 2011.

With Paris Saint-Germain worried about Uefa's Financial Fair Play sanctions (having been fined €60 million last season) it seems that the Red Devils will soon be rolling out the red carpet at Old Trafford for Angel, who "said goodbye" to his Real Madrid pals on Sunday .

For one thing, former Manchester United captain and Telegraph Sport columnist Gary Neville reckons the Argentina winger will be just what the club require this season:

Here are 15 things you should know about the 26-year-old:

1. Born to Miguel and Diana in Rosario's district of Perdriel, Angel Fabian Di Maria Hernandez joined local club Rosario Central in 1995 (having been noticed at the age of seven playing for a tiny local team and bought in exchange for 30 footballs) and graduated from the youth academy in 2005.

2. Angel's old man, Miguel, was a decent footballer too, but his dream of becoming a River Plate player was shattered after he suffered a career-ending knee injured before he was due to make his debut. Instead he worked in a coal yard for 16 years, earning a meagre wage. Sharing a room with his two sisters, Miguel's son Angel soon realised that football was his chance to achieve a better life (Lionel Messi was also reared in Rosario, although his middle-class upbringing paved the way for a rather more gilded childhood).

3. His nickname is 'Fideo', the Noodle, on account of his skinny physique.

4. As a youngster his idol was Kily Gonzalez, the former Valancia and Inter winger, who earned 56 caps for Argentina and was predominantly left-footed, like Di Maria.

He watched Gonzalez play for Rosario Central in 1995 and then became his team-mate when promoted to the first team at the age of 17. (Recently Di Maria recalled how Gonzalez became angry at him during a match when he left him exposed on the flank. “Those are things that you never forget,” he said.)

5. After two years in the Rosario Central first team he had started to impress. For proof, have a look at these (rather grainy) highlights:

His first move to Europe, in 2007, was to Benfica, though he almost ended up in Russia after Rubin Kazan convinced Di Maria to sign a contract that January. He reneged on the deal, though, and (despite interest from Argentina giants Boca Juniors) moved to Portugal in July for about €8 million (further complicated by third-party ownership).

Di Maria signed a new contract with Benfica in October 2009, adding three more years to his original deal, and they wrote in a €40-million minimum fee release clause. Less than 10 months later he was on his way again, however, to Real Madrid, and proved to be Jose Mourinho's most expensive signing in his first summer at the club. Here are some on his best moments in the red of Benfica:

6. Like many footballers he is keen on his tattoos. Before he left for Benfica, he and six childhood friends all had the same phrase inked on their left forearm: "To be born in El Perdriel was and will be the best thing that has ever happened to me in my life."

Rather amusingly, as Di Maria and his amigos were young-looking teens at the time, some of the lads' fathers had to join them at the parlour and sign a consent form, according to legend.

7. In June 2010 Di Maria signed a five-year contract worth €25 million at Real Madrid, plus €11 million in incentives, and got his career off to a blistering start. In the last match of pre-season, he opened the scoring in a 2?0 victory against CA Penarol after a move described as a "magic moment".

In September he netted his first league goal for Real Madrid in their 2?1 win over Real Sociedad and 10 days later managed to hit the target for his first Champions League goal for Madrid, in a 1-0 win over Auxerre.

8. On the international front, Di Maria has so far notched up 52 caps, and scored 10 goals, the last of which proved enough to send Argentina through to the World Cup quarter-finals this summer.

Following a distinctively average game (some 51 of his passes were not completed), deep in extra time (the 118th minute) he was found by Messi and put away a shot against plucky Switzerland.

Sadly for him he missed the remainder of the tournament due to injury.

9. Di Maria has an Olympic gold medal. He played for Argentina at the Beijing Games in 2008, when Argentina defeated Nigeria 1-0 in the final, and it was this delightful chip with his ? you guessed it ? left foot, which won the spoils.

10. In fact, Di Maria is almost laughably one-footed, choosing to perform 'Rabona' crosses (and shots) rather than use his right boot. But he is actually pretty good at clipping assists with his left foot from behind his right, as his team-mates would readily testify.

11. And he occasionally scores a Rabona goal...

12. Real Madrid wanted to sell the winger last summer, when they splashed out a world-record ￡80 million for Gareth Bale, another left-footer (who has the same heart-shaped goal-scoring celebration, too), but Di Maria stood firm, apparently because his daughter was seriously unwell at the time.

His wife Jorgelina (nee Cardoso), who he married in 2011, had given birth to Mia three months prematurely and the baby was being kept in an intensive care unit at a Madrid hospital.

Impressively the winger refused to allow his personal drama to influence his showing for his club and even scored the winner in the Madrid derby versus Atletico just five days after she was born.

Thankfully Mia survived her scare and on her first birthday Jorgelina published photos on Instagram, writing, “Nobody but Dad and I know how painful it was to see your face covered with medical cables. There is nothing sadder than to go home from the hospital with empty arms. Tears soaked our pillows every night. And now we can say that you are a strong, healthy, happy girl. You won the battle for your life, for our lives.”

13. Di Maria was born on February 14, 1988, exactly the same day as former Pussycat Doll, Asia Nitollano.

According to sources (Wikipedia) she is a singer, model and cheerleader, and as a teenager was a dancer for the New York Knicks. After winning the television series The Pussycat Dolls Present: The Search for the Next Doll , Nitollano became a member of the band only to leave a few months later to pursue a solo career. Just what you always wanted to know.

So it is official: Di Maria is the most successful person in the public eye to have entered the world on St Valentine's Day 1988.

14. Other things that happened on the day Di Maria was born include: Buzz Aldrin, the second person to walk on the Moon, married his third wife Lois Driggs Cannon at the age of 58. They are now divorced and the settlement ensured she was able to retain her Mercedes, which has 'MOONGAL' number plates.

Belinda Carlisle's Heaven Is a Place on Earth was third in the UK music charts.

And Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes's end-of-night smoochy classic (I've Had) The Time Of My Life was number one. Oh yes.

It's not clear whether Di Maria has yet heard either of these British classics yet and the chances are, now that Rio Ferdinand is no longer in the Old Trafford dressing room, the opportunity might well never come to pass.

15. Di Maria is understood to have already spoken with Louis van Gaal about his role at Manchester United and the presence of United's record signing could force the Dutchman to shift from his preferred 3-5-2 formation.

He is also expected to be handed the iconic number seven shirt, worn by George Best, Bryan Robson, Eric Cantona, David Beckham and Cristiano Ronaldo.

? Di Maria joins the top 20 most expensive players ever
? How the British transfer record has evolved from ￡100
? Real Madrid and Man Utd agree ￡59.7m fee for Di Maria
? De Jong, Vidal and Blind could follow Di Maria to Man Utd
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