Benfica winger Angel di Maria will return to his boyhood membership Rosario Central – 10 months after demise threats compelled him to backtrack on the identical transfer.
The 37-year-old started his profession at Rosario in 2005 and the Argentine top-flight membership introduced his return on Thursday.
“Our historical past collectively has extra pages to put in writing. Welcome house,” the Rosario-based membership stated alongside a video posted on X.
The 2022 World Cup winner spent two seasons with Rosario earlier than transferring to Europe with Benfica.
He went on to play greater than 700 video games in Europe for Benfica, Actual Madrid, Manchester United, Paris St-Germain and Juventus.
Di Maria was near rejoining Rosario as a free agent final summer season however rising drug-related violence within the area and quite a few threats towards him and his household ended his plans.
Talking final July, Di Maria stated: “There was a menace at my sister’s enterprise, a field with a pig’s head and a bullet within the brow, and a word that stated that if I returned to [Rosario] Central, the subsequent head was that of my daughter Pia.
“These months have been horrible. We may solely sit there and cry every night time over not with the ability to perform that dream return.”
Di Maria has received 30 trophies in Europe – together with league titles in three nations and the 2013-14 Champions League with Actual – in addition to the World Cup and two Copa America trophies with Argentina.
He rejoined Benfica for a second spell in 2023 and can depart the membership after subsequent month’s Membership World Cup marketing campaign in the USA.
