Di Maria: Ronaldo a big influence on my move to Manchester United The Argentina international joined the Red Devils in a British-record €75 million move in the summer and says the Portugal international helped to convince him to go Oct 9, 2014 14:11:00 Angel Di Mariasays that Cristiano Ronaldoconvinced him to join Manchester Unitedfrom Real Madridin the summer. United spent a British-record €75 million to acquire the Argentina international, with his move bringing an end to a successful four years at the Santiago Bernabeu. The winger has now revealed that Ronaldo had a huge say in his decision to move to Old Trafford, with the Portugal international having won the Ballon dOr during his own spell at the club. Before we knew I was coming to Manchester, he told me its a massive club, I would be very happy here and it would be good for me, Di Maria told Uniteds official website when asked about Ronaldos influence. At that time we didnt know for sure that I was coming or not so we didnt go into great detail but what he did say helped me greatly to make my decision. Ronaldo wore the iconic No.7 shirt at Old Trafford and Di Maria has subsequently been afforded the same privilege, with the 26-year-old expressing his pride at being assigned the number. It is a source of motivation, he said. When you wear a shirt thats been worn by the likes of David Beckham and Cristiano Ronaldo, its something youre always going to be pleased about. The fact that the club have chosen to give me that shirt number also gives me a huge confidence boost so thats why Im very happy to have this number. Louis van Gaal oversaw a complete revamp of the United squad in the summer, with the likes of Radamel Falcao, Daley Blind, Luke Shaw and Ander Herrera all joining the club and Di Maria gets on very well with the Dutch manager, who has overseen three wins from his opening seven Premier League games in charge. We get on very well; he was one of the reasons I came here, explained the Argentina star. Im very grateful to him because he wanted to sign me. That makes me happy. Also, hes a person who wants to win all the time and to take the club back into the Champions League as quickly as possible, so the focus is very much on that. In every training session and every match we want to give 100 per cent.
Posted on: Thu, 09 Oct 2014 14:39:12 +0000
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