Man Utd broke British transfer fee record and were thrashed 4-0 on same day

Manchester United smashed the British transfer fee record back in August 2014 – but it did them little good when they were roundly thrashed 4-0 later that day.

And that was at the hands of MK Dons, who were in League One at the time to deal then-manager Louis van Gaal a crippling blow to his early career at Old Trafford.

The legendary Dutchman had been given the reins at United after a dismal year under David Moyes that saw the Scotsman sacked within eight months.

Van Gaal wanted to make a big impression and utilised the funds on hand to bring in some big names.

Radamel Falcao, Luke Shaw and Ander Herrera were all brought in but the most excitement was reserved for the arrival of Angel di Maria from Real Madrid.

At 26, the zippy winger was in the prime of his life and joined for a British transfer record of £59.7million.

Unfortunately, the Argentine would go on to have a disastrous year and perhaps the omens were there along when United were thrashed 4-0 on the same day of his arrival – by MK Dons.

While the Red Devils fielded a weakened team, there were still starts for the likes of David de Gea, Anderson, Danny Welbeck, Jonny Evans, Javier Hernandez and Shinji Kagawa.

Yet they did not manage a shot on target until the 72nd minute – at a time when they were trailing 3-0 at the Stadium:mk.

Will Grigg opened the scoring after an error from Evans before grabbing another in a match where on-loan Benik Afobe also scored a brace.

A very young Dele Alli also starred in a match that heaped further misery on Van Gaal – who had a poor start to life as United coach.

On the opening day of the season in his first match in charge, Swansea defeated them while United went on to draw against Sunderland in their next game.

And while Di Maria did not feature, his transfer fee weighed up against the total cost of MK Dons’ team – £500,000 – showed the clear differences between the two teams.

The forward would go on to spend just one season at Old Trafford after failing to adapt to the Premier League.

Paris Saint-Germain snapped him up for around £44.3m, a hefty loss on the purchase United made just a year before, and he has been at the Parc des Princes since.

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