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Di Maria said Van Gaal was the WORST manager he ever had and blamed him for failing at Man United, but the Dutch manager can’t help but laugh! Hostilities are renewed while Argentina faces the Netherlands
Angel di Maria’s bitter feud with former Manchester United boss Louis van Gaal took an unexpected development on Thursday when the Dutch manager madly downplayed their feud in the most bizarre way during a press conference with Memphis Depay.
Does Di María call me the worst manager he’s ever had? He is one of the few players with this opinion,’ he told the media on Thursday.
“I am very sorry about this and I find it sad that he said this. Memphis had to deal with that in Manchester too, and now we kiss on the mouth.
Angel di Maria called Netherlands coach Louis van Gaal the “worst manager of his career” in 2019
Van Gaal bizarrely joked that he and former Manchester United star Depay ‘now kiss on the mouth’
The joke was made in an effort to downplay the Dutch manager’s apparent feud with Di Maria.
Depay, who struggled at Old Trafford before emerging as one of Van Gaal’s most important players for the Netherlands, simply laughed it off, expecting nothing less from his maverick manager.
But it won’t all be fun and games on Friday: Di Maria and Van Gaal will go head-to-head in the World Cup quarterfinals as the Netherlands and Argentina battle for places in the quarterfinals.
Consumed by animosity towards Van Gaal following his icy departure from United in 2015, Di María called his former manager the “worst manager of his career” in an interview with the Argentine outlet. T&C Sports.
Van Gaal coached the Argentine after he joined Manchester United for £60m in 2014
He told the TV channel in 2019: ‘My problem at Manchester was the manager. Van Gaal was the worst coach of my career.
I marked, attended and the next day showed me my misplaced passes.
He moved me from one day to the next, he didn’t like the players to be above him.
After signing for a British record fee of £60m from Real Madrid in 2014, the Argentine made a positive start at Old Trafford with three goals and four assists in his first six league games of the season.
But his form soon fell off a cliff, not helped by his home being robbed, and he was unable to find the net again for the remainder of the season before moving to Paris Saint-Germain.
Subsequently, Di María endured a torrid season with the Red Devils under Van Gaal in 2014-15.
The playmaker started life at Old Trafford well, but his form faltered and he left after a year.
Di María claimed in another 2019 interview that an argument with Van Gaal completely derailed his Red Devils career.
“I was in Manchester and everything was fine with Van Gaal for the first two months,” he revealed to the Argentine television program ESPN Redes.
‘After a fight, things were not the same. The relationship was not the same.
“The fight with Van Gaal happened because he was always showing me bad and negative things and all that was holding me back.
Argentina prepares to face Van Gaal’s Netherlands in the World Cup quarterfinals on Friday
‘One day I had a fight with him. I told him that I didn’t want to see those things anymore, that he was doing them well and I asked him why he didn’t show me good things.
“He didn’t like how I spoke to him and that’s where the whole problem started.”
Van Gaal responded a month later, telling BBC Sport: ‘Di Maria says it was my problem. I played him in all attacking positions.
You can check. He never sold me on any of those positions.
He was unable to deal with the continued pressure on the ball in the Premier League. That was his problem.
Di María claimed in 2019 that an argument with Van Gaal derailed his entire United career
Since leaving United, Di María has recorded 93 goals and 119 assists for PSG in 295 appearances, reviving his career before moving to Juventus on free in July.
Although his start in Turin has been marred by injuries since the summer, the 34-year-old recovered in time for the World Cup and has since started three of Argentina’s four matches in the tournament under Lionel Scaloni.
Di Maria now goes head-to-head with Van Gaal’s Netherlands for a place in the semi-finals against either Croatia or Brazil.
The winger will no doubt be eager to introduce his former manager at the Lusail Stadium on Friday. Van Gaal, on the other hand, seems to be laughing off the icy memories.