Angel Di Maria on leaving Manchester United for PSG: “I was in a negative spiral” | OneFootball

Argentina international Angel Di Maria (36) has opened up in a wide-ranging interview to France Football. The 36-year-old 2022 World Cup winner has revealed how leaving Manchester United in 2015 for Paris Saint-Germain has been like a “rebirth” for him. Angel Di Maria only spent one season at Old Trafford on the back of winning Real Madrid’s tenth Champions League final.

“It has been a complicated year at Manchester where many on-pitch and off-pitch events occurred“, Di Maria says, mentioning an attempted home-jacking on his home and an underwhelming season with the Red Devils and Louis Van Gaal losing confidence in him. Angel Di Maria’s Argentina also lost the 2015 Copa America final on penalties against Chile.

“I was in a negative spiral and Paris changed my life. I started to feel again like I felt in Madrid“, Angel Di Maria recalls, remembering his seven-year stay in the French capital from 2015 to 2022. “The fans gave me their love on day one. We always say French people don’t like you if you don’t speak French, but I never felt this way!“

Angel Di Maria said he needed a new place “to start from scratch” after his first and only season in the Premier League. In the end, Angel Di Maria’s seven-year stay has flown by. “From the first day, I felt at ease there. I was happy in Paris. I had a French daughter so I will always keep a special link with Paris. I spent seven unforgettable years there for me and my family.“

GFFN | Bastien Cheval