Wayne Rooney has insisted that Angel di Maria is a "wonderful" footballer and believes only circumstances prevented him from succeeding at Manchester United.
Louis van Gaal sealed a £59.7million move for the former Real Madrid winger in 2014, with Di Maria touted to turn United back into a winning force after he'd been Man Of The Match in that year's Champions League final. But the Argentine flopped at United and never justified his transfer fee, despite a promising start. He was sold to Paris Saint-Germain for a loss of £10million after just one season at Old Trafford.
The 32-year-old has enjoyed a profitable spell at PSG and could now feature in tonight's Champions League final against Bayern Munich, the first time the French club have reached this stage of the prestigious competition.
Rooney is a big admirer of Di Maria and says the burgling of his house in Manchester and family circumstances were a major factor in his United troubles.
"He’s a wonderful player," said Rooney in his column for The Sunday Times. "When he came to United I remember Louis van Gaal saying to the team: 'He is the only one who is allowed to dribble with the ball.'
"Angel works tirelessly on the pitch and his delivery, vision and awareness is brilliant.
"He could have been a major star at United but at the time we were going through a bit of a transition and it was tough for him to settle. He had young kids and lived a couple of houses down from me and someone tried to burgle him. I remember that really shook him and his family.
"From then on, really, you knew it was going to be tough for him and it was probably better for him to leave."
