If there is a poll among the fans as to who has been not worth the money for Manchester United in the recent past, the two names that would certainly feature in the list would be Alexis Sánchez and Paul Pogba. However, one name that could probably be the outright winner is Angel Di Maria. The Argentine was a talisman for Real Madrid playing with the likes of Ronaldo and Benzema, making the United board splash £59.7 million for him in 2014. A year down the line, the midfielder decided to move to Paris Saint Germain, provoking a section of the fans to call out names.
Five years later, Di Maria’s wife Jorgelina Cardoso has stated that she never wanted to move to England and did not hold back in expressing her dislike of the place. According to AS she has stated, “I said to him, ‘Go to any country – except England’. Anyway, one year later and there we were in England and it was horrible, a shithole. I didn’t like anything about it, not a thing. The women are all skinny, prim and proper… weird. You’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”.
The recent development would certainly not be music to the ears of the supporters. To be fair, the fans have not been the kindest to Angel Di Maria either. After Manchester United beat PSG in the Champions League last season to enter the quarter-finals, some fans basked in the glory by mocking their former player. Therefore the current comments from his wife about England, in general, would only make things worse.
Here lies the main problem with the United transfer policy that the club has had to endure for the past few years. With the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson, the club had entered into a new phase where it had to apply modern-day tactics. Breaking the bank for a player had already been made a regular thing by clubs across Europe.
United, in all their glory, failed to replicate their form in the post-SAF era under different managers and that forced them to pay a ludicrous amount of money for the likes of Di Maria, Juan Mata, Paul Pogba and Alexis Sánchez. At one point, it looked like more of a fan pleasing tactic than a footballing decision and that had made United purchase some players who did not prove their worth.
However, United have since improved their strategy with the club making some intelligent acquisitions in the form of Harry Maguire, Daniel James and Bruno Fernandes. They could be the backbone of the club for a long time to come. The decision to integrate youngsters like Marcus Rashford into the team has also paid dividends.
All things said, making bad decisions transfer wise seems like a thing of the past for United who would look to approach the new season by making some intelligent acquisition. However, it remains to be seen how the supporters react to the recent comments of Angel Di Maria’s better half.
