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REVEALED: Why Real Madrid sold Angel Di Maria to Man Utd
CARLO ANCELOTTI reveals Angel Di Maria left Real Madrid in the summer because the club refused to give in to his wage demands.
The Argentine winger has hit top form for Manchester United since his £59.7m summer move, scoring three and assisting as many to lift the club into the top four.
Real also let first-team regulars Xabi Alonso and Diego Lopez leave, but Ancelotti insists the Spaniards wanted to move on for another challenge rather than for money.
And the Italian tactician insists the club made the right decision to let Di Maria leave.
He said: “Di Maria? I was in agreement with the club. There are times when the club needs to say no. You can’t change the policies of the club for one player.
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Di Maria asked for a lot of money and preferred to leave to go find it
“Di Maria asked for a lot of money and preferred to leave to go find it. The club couldn’t give him the money he wanted.
"They say that I’m the manager of the club; of course, I coach for the club, not for the players.
“Xabi is different because he asked to leave. He was a little tired and because of the respect we have for him, we let him leave because we had good options with (Toni) Kroos and James (Rodriguez). He didn’t betray us.
“Diego Lopez left to find another great club with less competition. He left because he preferred to leave, no one ever asked for him to leave.”
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