Angel Di Maria’s agent has given his take on the departure of his client from Real Madrid, claiming Carlo Ancelotti tried to get him to stay.
Eugenio Lopez has spoken to COPE with his comments published by AS. Lopez disputed Florentino Perez’s claim that Di Maria was seeking a huge wage packet, instead claiming the Manchester United midfielder was willing to turn down bigger offers to stay at Santiago Bernabeu.
“Di Maria never asked for €8m and would have stayed for less that he is paid by Manchester United,” Lopez insisted.
“Before the World Cup there was no offer from Madrid. He never asked for €8m per year and it would have been less, although there was a club that offered more.
“The idea was to wait and come to an agreement with Madrid to stay. He wanted to earn what he was promised.
“He had a contract until 2018 but he wanted to progress. That’s normal. They brought James Rodriguez and Toni Kroos, not two wingers. That was a sign something was wrong.
“They didn’t buy James because Di Maria wanted to leave. They are very different players.
“We started to negotiate but Madrid didn’t want to move forward. I speak from what Perez said.
“If Madrid were so quick to sign James, why couldn’t they move the margin of €5m over five years? Is it to let [Di Maria] go?”
Lopez added that Di Maria’s commitment to Madrid could never be questioned after what he has sacrificed for the club, and claimed that the Madrid fans and the Coach wanted him to stay.
“He went to Dortmund for a game three hours after the difficult birth of his daughter,” Lopez argued.
“When he played against Atletico Madrid in the Supercopa the reception was tremendous. He was shown great affection.
“He’s a fan of Rosario Central but wanted to be in Madrid. He made mistakes but didn’t mean to hurt anyone. Di Maria misses passes but he doesn’t do it to cost anyone.
“Ancelotti? He did everything possible to get Di Maria to stay.”
