15 special things of Di Maria
Di Maria is Man Utd’s newest world-class player.
The price Man Utd pays for Real will break all purchasing records in the Premier League.
The full name of the Argentine midfielder is Angel Fabian Di Maria Hernandez.
Di Maria’s father was also a professional player and once dreamed of playing for River Plate.
Di Maria’s nickname is `El Fideo`, which means… the noodle, to refer to his slim body.
Di Maria’s childhood idol was Kily Gonzalez, former player of Valencia and Inter Milan.
In 2007, Di Maria almost moved to Russia to play for Rubin Kazan, but then changed his mind to join Benfica (see video).
Mourinho once had great confidence in Di Maria’s wing ability.
Like many Argentinian players, Di Maria loves tattoos.
In June 2010, Di Maria signed a five-year contract with Real Madrid for $34 million, plus an additional $15 million in additional terms.
Di Maria scored 10 goals in 52 matches for Argentina.
Di Maria won a gold medal in men’s soccer at the Olympics when attending the 2008 Beijing Olympics. That was the tournament in which Argentina won the championship after defeating Nigeria 1-0 in the final with a skillful shot with Di’s left foot.
He is so left-footed that he often chooses to cross the ball with `Rabona` style passes rather than using his right foot.
Not only passing the ball, Di Maria also scored with a Rabona shot in Benfica’s 2-1 win over AEK Athens in 2009 (see video).
Real Madrid wanted to sell Di Maria since last summer when they spent a record amount of 134 million USD to bring in Gareth Bale, another left-footed player.
Deciding to stay at Real last year helped Di Maria become one of coach Ancelotti’s most effective players.
Di Maria was born on Valentine’s Day (February 14, 1988).
A few interesting things happened on the day the Argentine midfielder was born.
Di Maria will wear the legendary number 7 shirt that has been associated with Man Utd’s big names such as George Best, Bryan Robson, Eric Cantona, David Beckham and Cristiano Ronaldo (see video).
