Angel Di Maria joined Manchester United from Real Madrid in 2014 for a huge sum of money, but spent just one season at Old Trafford before being sold to French giants Paris Saint-Germain.
Angel Di Maria from Real Madrid to Manchester United (Image: Getty Images)
Former failure Angel Di Maria has slammed “lies” surrounding his infamous move to Manchester United. The Argentina international signed for the Red Devils from Spanish giants Real Madrid in 2014 for £59.7 million.
However, Di Maria only stayed at Old Trafford for one season before being sold to French club Paris Saint-Germain at a loss. Di María has since regularly claimed that he never wanted to leave Real Madrid.
In a new interview with Spanish media outlet AS, Di Maria hit back at suggestions that he made the move because he wanted a salary on par with Cristiano Ronaldo.
“Yes (I was sad) because I didn’t want to quit. I was told that I wanted to earn the same prize money as Cristiano, but that was a lie. How can I expect to earn the same prize money as a player who has won multiple Ballon d’Ors?”
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“I was very happy. We won the Champions League and Ancelotti didn’t want me to leave, but James[Rodriguez]arrived and I was on the market.”
Di Maria subsequently admitted he was determined to remain in Spain until signing a contract with United.
He added: “I tried to stay until the last day. I wanted to keep training. I played in the first leg of the Super Cup against Atleti, but they didn’t even call me up for the second leg, because they had already reached an agreement with Manchester United, which I didn’t know. My family and I were both very happy. But things like this happen sometimes and it happened to me.”
Di Maria signed for Man United in 2014 (Image: Getty Images)
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After leaving United in 2015, he ultimately spent seven seasons with PSG, scoring 92 goals in 295 appearances, winning five league titles, five French Cups and four French League Cups.
He moved to Italian side Juventus in 2022, but spent just one season in Serie A before signing with his former team Benfica. Di Maria then returned to Argentina last year with a move to Rosario Central, rejoining another former employer.
Di Maria was not alone in his dissatisfaction with life in Manchester. His wife, Jorgelina Cardoso, was also not very supportive of the move.
In 2020 she said: “It was terrible. Manchester is the worst. Everything is terrible in Manchester. In fact, I used to fight with Ángel about it. We lived in Madrid and Ángel was playing for the best team in the world, for me Real Madrid.”
“We were perfect, the weather was perfect, the food was perfect, and then suddenly he said he had an offer to go to Manchester. I said to him, ‘No chance, you’re going alone.’ He said, ‘No, come on, let’s go.’
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