Angel Di Maria didn't exactly enjoy his singular season at Manchester United.
The PSG winger is consistently ranked as one of the Red Devils' worst ever signings having arrived for a British transfer record and left the club just one year later for a loss.
However, there is good reason to think that Di Maria shouldn't be totally blamed for his doomed spell in England and we're not just alluding to the fact that he notched 10 Premier League assists.
Di Maria's tough time in Manchester
No, we're more talking about the reports and quotes that would have you believe that Di Maria had a difficult time away from the pitch - and for that you can only have a great deal of sympathy.
The Guardian reported that Di Maria moved out of his Prestbury mansion in March 2015 just one month after moving in because of an attempted raid by burglars.
Arteta SACKING incoming? (Football Terrace)
And Di Maria's comments since moving to PSG have brought further light to his difficult year in Manchester ranging from his experience with Louis van Gaal to his opinion on England in general.
Therefore, in a week where the Argentine declared that he 'didn't give a f***' about United's No. 7 shirt, we decided to follow the Mirror's lead by piecing together all the quotes from him and his wife.
Six times Di Maria and his wife's disdain went public
It really does paint a concerning picture of that ill-fated year in Manchester with some comments lending to a degree of sympathy and others, frankly, taking things a little too far. Take a look below:
Never wanted to leave Real Madrid
According to the Express, Di Maria said just one month after leaving United: "My intention was always to stay at Madrid.
“I don't really know what happened on the inside of the deal - these are things that representatives deal with. It happens in football.
"My move to PSG could have happened before this summer but it didn't for financial reasons and I ended up going to United. In the summer I had the chance to go there again and I could not say no."
'Complications with the coach'
Per Eurosport, Di Maria first touched on his frosty relationship with Van Gaal in 2019 when he said: "It was not the best time of my career, or rather I was not allowed to spend my best time there.
"There were complications with the coach at the time. But thank God, I was able to come to PSG and demonstrate again who I was."
Fight with Van Gaal
Then, just one month later, the Express explains that Di Maria elucidated his claims by saying: “I was at Manchester and everything was fine with Van Gaal during the first two months.
“After 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."
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Miffed about the No. 7 shirt
And according to Goal, this week wasn't the first time that Di Maria has poo-pooed United's iconic No. 7 jersey because he also told Ligue 1 that he didn't really have a say in the selection process.
Di Maria explained: “At Real Madrid, No.11 was already taken, so I took 22. At Manchester United they gave me No.7, I didn’t get a choice. I would have liked 11 but there we are. Here [PSG], I had a choice, so I chose 11!”
'Don't join Man Utd'
However, arguably the most damning comments of all have actually come from Di Maria's wife, Jorgelina Cardoso, who gave a jaw-dropping interview with Los Angeles de la Manana in 2020.
According to ESPN, Cardoso recounted: "I remember Angel coming up and saying, 'An offer from Manchester United has come in. Maybe we'll be a little more financially secure.'
"It was horrible. Manchester is the worst. It is all horrible in Manchester. In fact, I fought a lot with Angel about it. We lived in Madrid, Angel played in the best team in the world which for me is Real Madrid.
"We were perfect, the weather was perfect, the food was perfect. And suddenly he said that there was a proposal to go to Manchester. I told him, 'Not a chance. You are going alone. 'No, come on. Let's go', he replied.
"There was a lot of money involved, and afterwards, the Spanish were calling us money grabbers."
But perhaps most inappropriately of all, Di Maria's spouse launched a distasteful rant on the people of Manchester by saying: "The people are all pasty-faced, prim and proper... weird.
"They're walking down the street and you don't know if they're going to kill you or what. The food's disgusting. All the girls are all dolled up to the nines, perfectly made-up and there's me with my hair in a bun and with no make-up on.
"We try to be closer when things go bad. I did not blame him for being there. I just told him, 'Darling, I want to kill myself, it is already night at 14:00 p.m. in the afternoon.'"
'Di Maria hates Man Utd'
And just in case you want an extra set of comments, the Metro have documented how PSG's Marcin Bulka told Polish YouTube channel Foot Truck in 2020: "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."
A tough year for Di Maria
So, it's fair to say that there is more than enough evidence to suggest that Di Maria despised his time at United and there are only so many conclusions that can be drawn from the comments alone.
It's always difficult to know the exact ins and outs of a footballer's lives, but regardless of the quotes bordering on uncomfortable at times, what matters most is that Di Maria is much happier now.
