7 things you should know about Angel Di Maria
Real Madrid’s Angel Di Maria £59.7m transfer to Manchester United is most likely going to be confirmed today as we await one of the biggest transfers of this summer window. Di Maria has been a key figure at Madrid, however, the addition of new players in Toni Kroos and James Rodriguez unsettled the Argentinean. Looking back into Di Maria’s life, we churn out seven things about him that you might not know about:
#1 Life before football
Angel Di Maria’s family were not the richest of the lot in La Ceramica. His parents worked at a coal yard, and were self-sufficient up to bare necessities with their meagre wage. In one instance, Di Maria recalled how hard his parents had to work so that they could earn enough money to buy their son a pair of football boots.
“It’s something I will always keep inside me. For me to play football and have boots meant my two sisters went without,” he said in an interview. “It was a horrible existence and when the weather was bad all they had was a metal roof over their heads. But both me and my sisters worked at the coal yard as well. I started aged 10 and by the time I was 15 I was helping with deliveries. It was hard work.”
Di Maria’s father, Miguel, was footballer himself, and dreamt of playing for his favourite club River Plate one day. He was a player in the reserve team there. However, the dream was shortlived after he underwent a career-ending knee injury even before he made his professional debut. He was forced to work at the coal yard for the next 16 years, eventually giving it up only after his son was transferred to Benfica.
“I often think how lucky I am to have football. I was a terrible student. If I didn’t have football I would have continued to work in the coal yard. What else would I have done?”
“I was heartbroken for my father because he could have played football but got a serious knee injury playing for River Plate reserves. My mother always reminds me how lucky I am and that I am doing what my father wanted to do, I am living his dream,” he remembers.