According to reports on Friday, Man United have lodged a whopping a £55m bid to bring Real Madrid's Angel Di Maria to Old Trafford this summer.

The Argentine has been told he can leave the Bernabeu following the arrival of Gareth Bale last summer and has hinted that the Premier League is a likely destination.

Louis Van Gaal has already started imposing his footballing philosophy on to United but is still in the market for some creativity and pace to shore up his attacking options.

And Di Maria looks like he could be the man chosen to fill the void and replace the the likes of Antonio Valencia and Shinji Kagawa at the club. But do they really need to spend so much money him?

Of course they do! Here's FIVE reasons why...

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Angel Di Maria

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Creates chances

Angel Di Maria

David Moyes struggled to get his United side to create much last season, which resulted in the worst season in the club's Premier League history.

But Van Gaal has already got them looking dangerous going forward this summer and has got people getting excited about seeing how different they look compared to last term. But they're still lacking some real quality out wide, which Di Maria would no doubt bring at Old Trafford.

The Argentine created 90 chances for Real Madrid last season, with 17 of them resulting in goals. If doesn't get you Man United fans excited, I don't know what will...

Di Maria stats

He's got pace

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Antonio Valencia has got pace, without doubt, but he does lack the end product at times. Di Maria is exceptional at combining the two and getting results, which is exactly what Louis Van Gaal will be demanding from his players throughout the season.

Huge improvement on current stock

Di Maria stats

As you can see from the above statistics from last season, Di Maria eclipsed both Valencia and Kagawa in absolutely everything. With Van Gaal expected to be implementing an attacking and hugely effected style of football, the Real Madrid man will offer a lot more threat than the current options available at the club.

Passing ability

Di Maria

We've already seen the early stages of Man United's tiki-taka style football under Van Gaal, which is a far cry from what the players and fans at United are normally used to.

But as a new era begins, LVG is going to need the very best passers in the game at his disposal, and Di Maria has to be one of them.

Di Maria passing stats

Versatility

Angel Di Maria

Di Maria is naturally a winger, but he most played in the middle of the park for Real Madrid last season and got most of his impressive results from there too.

With no European competition to worry about - meaning less emphasis on strength in depth - and plenty of cover in central midfield, there's no need for him to play there. But it's always nice to know you've got more than adequate cover should you need it.

Di Maria stats