Angel Di Maria claims a number of high-profile players fought his corner ahead of being sold by Real Madrid.
The Argentine spent four years at the Santiago Bernabeu, joining Los Blancos in 2010 from Benfica and going on to make 124 La Liga appearances before his 2014 exit to Manchester United.
Di Maria won a La Liga title, a Champions League and other titles during his time at the club before being ushered out on a £59.7million deal.
Reluctantly, however, it has to be said, with Di Maria claiming some of Real Madrid’s biggest stars pled with president Florentino Perez for the midfielder’s stay.
“Cristiano (Ronaldo), (Sergio) Ramos, Iker (Casillas)…they fought against by departure, but it’s difficult against the little one that runs Real Madrid,” he told Diario AS.
“What happened happened, but I’m always grateful that I was banked on.”
The ‘little one’ referred to by Di Maria is, of course, the aforementioned Perez, though there were also some complimentary words for the Real Madrid president from the Argentine.
“The little one…he is a phenomenon for negotiations. He sells players that for me, their ability doesn’t value the value of the fortunate he sells for. He sells and buys like no one else.”
At 33, Di Maria is now with Paris Saint-Germain, where he has been since 2015, making as many as 173 Ligue 1 appearances.
This season, the Argentine will be hoping to help PSG win their first ever Champions League title, armed with Lionel Messi, as well as Kylian Mbappe and Neymar.
PSG is completely complete, they have what it takes to be champion this time around.