Barca turned down World Cup winner Di Maria in May due to his age

Angel Di Maria could have been a Barcelona player right now, but he plays for Juventus instead. The Argentine, when his PSG contract was expiring at the end of last season, got in contract with Barcelona to offer himself to the club. However, the Catalans decided that he was too old to join Xavi's Hernandez's side. 'Mundo Deportivo' were the ones to report this story. 

A few months down the line, Barcelona will surely be regretting that decision. Di Maria had a superb World Cup and he won the tournament. His performance in the final against France caught people's eye especially. He showed all his skills, left France's defenders bamboozled and he had a first half which drew Argentina close to the title. 

He won the penalty for Messi's first goal and scored Argentina's second. After being sidelined for several weeks due to an injury which nearly ruled him out of the tournament, Scaloni managed Di Maria perfectly. He started him against Mbappe and co. and the move could not have gone any better. An exhausted Di Maria was then taken off just after the hour mark. 

Xavi knows Di Maria well and would have probably loved to have him, but the club thought otherwise. That said, Barca have plenty of wingers to choose from and even som quality wingers have been reduced to a secondary role. At the moment, his favourite seems to be Dembele, who had a rather forgettable final.