Angel di Maria has revealed how his time at Manchester United deteriorated following just one argument with manager Louis van Gaal.
The Argentine had arrived at Old Trafford from Real Madrid for a British record fee of £60million in the summer of 2014 and his early performances were promising. But Di Maria’s form fell off a cliff and he ended up leaving for Paris Saint-Germain the following summer having scored just four times in 32 matches for United. He has never gone into detail about his strained relationship with notoriously stubborn Dutch coach Van Gaal – until now.
‘I was at Manchester and everything was fine with Van Gaal during the first two months. fter one fight, things weren’t the same. The relationship wasn’t the same. The fight with Van Gaal occurred because he was always showing me bad and negative things and all that held me back. One day I fought with him. I told him I didn’t want to see those things anymore, that I was doing things well and asked him why he wasn’t showing me good things. He did not like how I spoke to him and from there the whole problem started,’ Di Maria told Argentine television programme ESPN Redes.
Van Gaal duly sanctioned the sale of Di Maria to PSG for £44m in the summer of 2015 and has found a fresh lease of life, scoring 59 times in 166 matches for the French champions. Di Maria was jeered by sections of the Old Trafford crowd on his return in the last-16, first leg of the Champions League last week but had the last laugh as PSG won 2-0. The Argentine had a bottle thrown at him at one point but assisted both goals as PSG took command of the tie. Di Maria appeared to shout ‘f*** off’ in the direction of United fans after their first goal but has escaped UEFA sanctions.