Di Maria and Cavani share Man Utd complaint but different view on No.7 shirt

Edinson Cavani will go down as another misfiring Manchester United number seven as he looks set to leave the club.

The Uruguayan will likely depart Old Trafford as a free agent next month and although he enjoyed a promising debut season, his sophomore year has not gone according to plan.

Cavani has scored two goals in 24 appearances and has been frozen out of the side since Cristiano Ronaldo's return to the club last summer. He has also been on the treatment table for long spells of the season with Ralf Rangnick continually raising question marks over his health status.

Cavani gave up the number seven shirt when Ronaldo arrived but technically he still joins a long list of players with that jersey to have an unsuccessful spell at Old Trafford since Ronaldo vacated it when he joined Real Madrid.

Michael Owen, Antonio Valencia, Angel Di Maria, Memphis Depay, Alexis Sanchez have all found the weight of the famous United shirt hard to carry.

There are a lot of similarities between Cavani's time at United with Di Maria's. They are both in the top tier of talent that has come out of South America over the last decade or so, achieving incredible levels of success in Europe across multiple leagues.

But for one reason or another, they couldn't cut it with United. The culture shock of the Premier League and England was definitely a factor after it emerged that Cavani struggled with how early it gets dark in the winter, something that Di Maria was vocal about, as well as the difficulty of the language barrier.

"I'm getting on very well," said Di Maria in September 2015." The weather is the only thing… it doesn't help a lot.

"But I'm very content here. The people have a lot of affection for me, which is the most important thing. It's what I value most, and I have that here."

When asked how his English is progressing, he laughed: "More like regressing! It's very bad. Very little and only understand a small bit.

"That said, I'm trying to learn it bit by bit and I'm taking classes. Hopefully, I'll pick it up quickly."

Cavani and Di Maria might have suffered the same fate in the number seven shirt, but there was a stark contrast in how they viewed its importance.

How do you assess Edinson Cavani's time at Old Trafford? Let us know in the comment section below

Cavani was reportedly 'p***ed off' by having to give up the No. 7 shirt to Ronaldo given he had enjoyed a promising first season with United as he scored 17 goals during the 2020/21 campaign despite his struggles with settling into life in Manchester.

Di Maria, on the other hand, "didn't give a f***" about it and didn't understand the significance behind wearing it.

"I didn't give a f*** about the Manchester United No.7," Di Maria was quoted telling TyC Sports in a wide-ranging interview.

"At first they talked to me a lot about it... it was just a shirt."

Cavani's time at United is similarly coming to a bitter end after he gave the middle finger to a supporter on Sunday boarding the team bus after playing 90 minutes in a 1-0 defeat against Crystal Palace on the final day of the Premier League season.