Argentina World Cup winner Angel Di Maria has blamed former Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal for his unhappy spell at Old Trafford, saying the Dutch coach focused only on the negatives in his performances.
Speaking in an interview with BBC Sport, Di Maria said his relationship with Van Gaal deteriorated after an encouraging start following his then British-record £59.7m move from Real Madrid in 2014.
“Things started really well,” Di Maria said. “Everything was flowing.
“Then I started to have issues with Van Gaal and from there everything fell apart.”
Di Maria enjoyed a bright opening to life in England, scoring three goals and providing four assists in his first six appearances for United.
However, Van Gaal frequently changed the Argentine’s position, using him on both wings, as a number 10 and in midfield, as the manager searched for consistency in his performances.
“Like I said, I started really well. Everything was perfect,” Di Maria said.
“But then suddenly we started having lots of meetings about all the things I was doing wrong on the pitch.
“He never showed me what I was doing well, just the negatives, over and over. Eventually I got fed up.”
Di Maria also revealed that personal issues away from football worsened his time in Manchester, including an attempted burglary at his Cheshire home while he and his family were inside.
“Life there was very different. It gets dark really early and then the cold started,” he said.
“Everything kept snowballing. There was also the break-in at my house.
“When all of that happens; when you are not playing, when things aren’t going well for you, when you have problems inside the club, it ends up affecting you a lot. It made me hate being there.”
The Argentine said he eventually decided to prioritise his family over his football career in England.
“I got robbed in Paris too and still stayed for another two or three years, because life there was good,” he said.
“In Manchester, everything just snowballed. I wanted to prioritise my family and that is why I left.”
Di Maria’s wife, Jorgelina Cardoso, had also publicly criticised life in Manchester in a previous interview with the Daily Mail.
“I didn’t like it at all,” she said. “People are all weird. You walk around and you don’t know if they’re going to kill you. The food is disgusting. The women look like porcelain.
“Angel and I were in Madrid, at the best team in the world, perfect food, perfect weather, everything was perfect. And then came United’s proposal.
“I told him ‘no way, no way’, but he kept saying we will be a little more financially secure and we have to go.
“We fought about it. I don’t blame him for going there. It was horrible.
“I just told him, ‘darling, I want to kill myself, it’s night time at two o’clock.’”
By March of his only season at United, Di Maria had begun falling out of favour under Van Gaal following injuries and a red card in an FA Cup match against Arsenal.
After the season ended, the winger refused to join United’s pre-season tour of the United States before sealing a £44.3 million move to Paris Saint-Germain.
“He said I never showed up [for pre-season] but I had already said I wanted to leave and that I wasn’t going to report back to the club,” Di Maria said.
“I stayed in Rosario until a decision was made.
“If you are unhappy, your family is unhappy, if your house gets burgled, you fall out with the manager and things aren’t going well, it’s very difficult to say I loved my time in Manchester. That is the reality.”
Despite the difficult experience, Di Maria insisted he has no regrets about joining Manchester United.
“But when it comes to the Premier League, the atmosphere, life at the club, honestly, I was left with a really good feeling because there were great people inside the club who always treated me well, who always supported me and helped me with everything. For that, I’m grateful,” he said.
“It was a decision I wanted to make. I wanted to go to United. The football, arriving at the stadiums, the atmosphere, the love from the fans, I don’t regret any of it.
“Joining them was incredible. I played as Manchester United on the PlayStation. I used to play with Rooney and suddenly, he was beside me.
“Of course, I understood the number seven was the biggest shirt number at Manchester United. But to me, it was just a number, like I wore 22 at Madrid.”
Van Gaal, responding to the comments, reportedly said Di Maria’s signing had been a club decision rather than one he personally requested, while maintaining that he struggled to find a position where the Argentine was effective.
Di Maria Says Van Gaal Made Him ‘Hate’ Manchester United is first published on The Whistler Newspaper
