Di Maria: Losing Man Utd place didn't make me want to leave
Angel Di Maria has told Ole he found losing his place at Manchester United “very tough” but said it had not made him question his future at Old Trafford.
Di Maria joined United for an initial £59.7 million from Real Madrid last summer after winning the Champions League with the Spanish club and helping Argentina reach the 2014 World Cup final.
However, he ended his first season at Old Trafford on the bench after losing his place in Louis van Gaal’s starting XI.
“I began well, with goals and assists,” he said. “I was going well, until I was left out. It is a bit difficult to explain why I was not playing, although it was not the case that, because I cost a lot of money, I had to be a starting player.”
The 27-year-old added: “I had been playing — I had finished the World Cup by reaching the final, I had finished really well with Real.
“It was difficult — it is very tough for me to be a substitute. For me, for my family, because things are not going as you want, because I am not playing. Because you go in with one intention, and you end up on the bench. It is difficult to say what you feel like there.”
Even so, Di Maria — who said in November that he would have joined Paris Saint-Germain if not for UEFA’s financial fair play regulations — said the experience had not made him consider a move away from United.
“No, because I am not someone who thinks like that,” he said. “At Madrid there were moments when the whole stadium whistled me, but I fronted up and in the end turned things around.
“I like to take things on when it seems difficult — to show what I have been doing for some years now.”
Di Maria was used in several positions under Van Gaal, but he said he was open to playing different roles, as he had under Argentina bosses Alejandro Sabella and Gerardo “Tata” Martino.
“I began in one position, I played up top with [Wayne] Rooney, I returned to the centre, on the left,” he said. “But I always say the same — with Alejandro I was in one place, now with Tata I’m in another. I just want to play.”
Credit: espn