ANGEL DI MARIA’S dream return to boyhood club Rosario Central was thwarted after he received severe death threats.
The 36-year-old retired from international football earlier this month following Argentina’s Copa America triumph.
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He announced his intention to join Rosario back in March, but his plans have since changed due to a series of threats.
According to ESPN, he was recently sent a pig’s head with a bullet lodged in its forehead.
Di Maria’s sister and her family also received a package which included a written death threat against his daughter.
And local reports claim that a sign addressed to the former Manchester United star’s family was left in front of his private neighbourhood.
It suggested that not even the provincial governor Maximiliano Pullaro could guarantee his family’s safety if he were to return to Rosario.
Di Maria claims such acts have been used as tactics to deter him from rejoining his boyhood club, 17 years on from his initial departure.
He told Rosario’s Canal 3: “There was a threat carried out in my parents’ neighbourhood which became public and at the same time another one at my sister’s property which didn’t come to light because my sister and my brother-in-law were scared and did not report it.”
The World Cup winner went on to reveal that he was forced to abandon his hopes of returning to the Estadio Gigante de Arroyito because the tactics “overruled” everything else.
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He continued: “Those months were horrible. We could only sit there and cry each night over not being able to carry out that dream.”
Despite the threats he endured, Di Maria received criticism after declining the chance to go back to Rosario.
The midfielder added: “Those who don’t understand, they don’t put themselves in my place for one second.
“Because it’s easy to mistreat others on social media without putting yourself in somebody else’s shoes.”
Di Maria left Benfica earlier this year after spending the 2023-24 campaign in Portugal.
