Di Maria's stunning "don't give a f***" Man Utd outburst and why he hates club
Angel Di Maria was in his pomp when he was lured to the Premier League - but somehow, the acquisition of one of Europe's most coveted players backfired for Manchester United.
The Argentine superstar arrived at Old Trafford from Real Madrid for what was, at the time, a club-record £59.7million fee back in 2014. Di Maria was handed the iconic No.7 shirt and, naturally, expectations were sky-high for a player who was a proven commodity in Europe after excelling at the Bernabeu.
Di Maria made a fair start to life in England, notching up three goals and 10 assists in just 22 appearances. But things quickly soured between the winger and his new club.
After Di Maria and his wife failed to settle in England, with Jorgelina Cardoso slamming the food on offer and branding the country a "****hole". Di Maria soon began angling for a return to Europe. Eventually, he got his wish when Paris Saint-Germain swooped in to hand the former Los Blancos star an escape route from Old Trafford just one year after his arrival.
Remarkably, Di Maria's popularity with Manchester United fans continued to take hits even after he was gone from the club. The World Cup winner pulled no punches on his bleak stint in the Premier League, often slamming the club and his former boss, Louis van Gaal.
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In an interview with Libero on TyC Sports, Di Maria took an X-rated swipe at the constant references fans made to the No.7 shirt. He said "I didn't give a f*** about the Manchester United No.7. At first they talked to me a lot about it... it was just a shirt."
Join the debate! What did you make of Di Maria's stint at Man Utd? Let us know here.
Angel Di Maria's spell at Old Trafford quickly turned sour (Getty Images)And one of Di Maria's former PSG teammates, Marcin Bulka, hinted that time hadn't healed any ill feeling, either. The goalkeeper revealed that Di Maria actively "hates Manchester United" following his unfruitful stint in England and would often actively go out of his way to avoid coverage of the club.
Bulka previously told Polish YouTube channel Foot Truck: "Di Maria hates Manchester United. He has no good memory of the time he spent there. In fact, when something related to Manchester United appears on television, the channel quickly changes."
Unsurprisingly, Di Maria was greeted with a chorus of jeers when his path crossed with United shortly after he had completed his £45m switch to the French capital; the same place he would call home for the next seven years.
While Di Maria still doesn't appear to be particularly fond of Manchester United, the winger, who is now on the books at Benfica, made it clear that Van Gaal was to blame for his struggles.
During that same interview with Libero, Di Maria said of Van Gaal: "My problem at Manchester was the coach. Van Gaal was the worst of my career. I would score, assist, and the next day he would show me my misplaced passes. He displaced me from one day to the other, he didn't like players being more than him.”
Van Gaal, fittingly, took a different view of the situation. The Dutchman previously told BBC Sport: "Di Maria says it was my problem. I played him in every attacking position. You can check that. He never convinced me in any of those positions. He could not deal with the continuous pressure on the ball in the Premier League. That was his problem.
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