Angel Di Maria has revealed that he was forced to wear the number seven shirt when he joined Manchester United from Real Madrid in 2014.

The number seven shirt has been worn by a number of legendary players at Old Trafford in the past, including Eric Cantona, David Beckham and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Asked why he took the number seven shirt in an interview with the official Ligue 1 website, the Argentina international said: "I don't really know. When I arrived, I saw that the No.11 was available.

"It's a shirt number I wore a lot when I was younger and I was keen to get once again. At Real Madrid, No.11 was already taken, so I took 22. At Manchester United they gave me No.7, I didn't get a choice. I would have liked 11 but there we are. Here, I had a choice, so I chose 11!"

The 31-year-old winger lasted just one season at Old Trafford under Louis van Gaal before leaving for his current side Paris Saint-Germain.

Di Maria scored four goals from 32 appearances while in Manchester, as United finished fourth in the Premier League.