“We spoke with Real Madrid president Florentino Perez, but Di Maria was too expensive and we stopped talks,” Khelaifi said during the unveiling of Brazil defender David Luiz.
PSG have to bow this season to Financial Fair Play restrictions imposed by European football’s governing body, UEFA.
The Qatari-bankrolled capital club, along with Premier League champions Manchester City, were in May slapped with a fine of 60 million euros ($82 million, £49 million) for breaching FFP regulations, namely accruing losses in excess of the 45-million-euro limit over the course of the past two seasons.
The French champions, in addition, agreed not to increase the club’s wage bill for the next two campaigns and to “significantly limit spending” in the transfer market while curbing losses to no more than 30 million euros next year.
With PSG having already forked out around 50 million euros to secure Luiz’s services from Chelsea, Real’s valuation of Di Maria at nearly 60 million forced them to back away from transfer talks.
Khelaifi added that he didn’t think Luiz had been expensive.
“He’s a great player. It’s the price. There were lots of big clubs who wanted to buy him and I’m very glad he came here,” he said.
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