Ángel Di María played against Barcelona on countless occasions during his four years at Real Madrid and will always be remembered for inflicting defeat on the Catalans in the famous 2011 Spanish Cup final, where he assisted Cristiano Ronaldo to victory.
Tomorrow he will face the club again in the UEFA Champions League, this time with Benfica, and has been medically cleared to return from injury and participate that night.
According to AS, Di María was indeed very close to signing for the club. blaugrana in 2017. His compatriot Lionel Messi lobbied hard for his incorporation to the then president Josep Maria Bartomeu but it ultimately did not work out.
PSG’s reluctance
The Spanish media reveals that the link between the 2022 FIFA World Cup champion and Barça was closely linked to PSG’s operation to sign Neymar Jr for 222 million euros in 2017.
Having lost one of their biggest names for the lump sum of money, Barcelona didn’t know how to respond and splashed the money on Ousmane Dembélé.
Even with money to spare, they looked for more quality options that they could incorporate and Di María was a player that interested them.
PSG, which was facing sanctions for Financial Fair Play, needed to generate income and thus put the Argentine up for sale. Messi did everything he could to bring his compatriot to Catalonia because he knew he was a reliable player who would fit into the system.
Bartomeu and company initially gave hope, but the transfer never took off for many reasons.
The biggest obstacle was PSG’s reluctance to do business with Barcelona, especially given the friction that has increased between the two clubs. After all, they had a big split after The Comeback and the transfer of Neymar.