There are two sides to every story, of course, and Van Gaal has been asked for his own observations in response to Di Maria’s comments.
Firstly, the highly-respected former Netherlands coach said he never asked to sign the player. It was a club decision, which he felt was a mistake.
Secondly, he is a structured manager with a vision about the game, which assigns a job description for every player, and the role they need to carry out.
Van Gaal argues he tried Di Maria in many positions without being about to find one where he was effective.
Nevertheless, Di Maria’s criticisms are pointed and personal.
“Like I said, I started really well. Everything was perfect. But then suddenly we started having lots of meetings about all the things I was doing wrong on the pitch,” he said.
“He never showed me what I was doing well, just the negatives, over and over. Eventually I got fed up.
“Life there was very different. It gets dark really early and then the cold started. Everything kept snowballing. There was also the break-in at my house.
“When all of that happens; when you are not playing, when things aren’t going well for you, when you have problems inside the club, it ends up affecting you a lot. It made me hate being there.
“I got robbed in Paris too and still stayed for another two or three years, because life there was good.
“In Manchester, everything just snowballed. I wanted to prioritise my family and that is why I left.”
Di Maria’s wife Jorgelina Cardoso was also unhappy in Manchester and in an interview with the Daily Mail in 2022, said: “I didn’t like it at all. People are all weird. You walk around and you don’t know if they’re going to kill you. The food is disgusting. The women look like porcelain.
“Angel and I were in Madrid, at the best team in the world, perfect food, perfect weather, everything was perfect. And then came United’s proposal.
“I told him ‘no way, no way’, but he kept saying we will be a little more financially secure and we have to go. We fought about it. I don’t blame him for going there. It was horrible.
“I just told him, ‘darling, I want to kill myself, it’s night time at two o’clock’.”
