Di Maria was absent from the Real squad that beat Cordoba 2-0 at the Bernabeu on Monday evening.

United have made no official comment on the matter, but it is understood the agreed fee between the Red Devils and Real will eclipse the Premier League record £50million Chelsea paid to Liverpool for Fernando Torres in 2011.

Should he sign, the 26-year-old cannot be involved in United’s Capital One Cup tie at MK Dons on Tuesday night but could be set for a debut in Saturday’s Barclays Premier League match at Burnley.

United appear in desperate need of a lift after a loss and a draw from their opening two league games and the man who was named man of the match in May’s Champions League final would certainly give them that.

Di Maria, who will add pace and the ability to run with the ball, has been at the Bernabeu since 2010 after moving from Benfica.

United boss Louis van Gaal would neither confirm nor deny anything with regard to the Di Maria situation after his side’s 1-1 draw at Sunderland on Sunday.

Van Gaal said: ”I cannot say anything about transfers, you have to understand that. When a transfer has been finished, then we can say something. But now you have to wait and see.

”When the moment is there, Manchester United shall announce it.”

He added with a smile: ”It is not only Di Maria – maybe (Arturo) Vidal or (Lionel) Messi! We are a big club.”

While those targets, the latter in particular, may be too ambitious, Di Maria would add to a summer of big spending which has already seen United shell out around £75m on defenders Luke Shaw and Marcos Rojo and midfielder Ander Herrera.

And improvements were needed after a dismal 2013-14 campaign saw them fail to even qualify for Europe, while the Sunderland result followed a 2-1 defeat to Swansea.

It is far from the flying start United and Van Gaal craved but striker Robin van Persie insists there is confidence in the camp that things will come good.

Van Persie told MUTV: “We’ve played two games and only picked up one point, we would have loved to have got six points but it didn’t happen, so we have to bounce back.

“I think that everyone has faith and everyone believes in the staff and players. We have great players, and it’s just a matter of time before the points will start coming in.”