Former Argentina winger Angel di Maria says death threats have forced him to backtrack on plans to return to boyhood club Rosario Central.
The 36-year-old, a free agent after leaving Benfica at the end of last season, retired from international football earlier this month upon winning the Copa America with Argentina.
Di Maria, who spent two years at Rosario Central between 2005 and 2007, wanted to return to the Argentine club to see out his career.
But a number of threats to himself and his family – which he did not report out of fear – have now forced a rethink.
“There was a threat at my sister’s business, a box with a pig’s head and a bullet in the forehead, and a note that said that if I returned to [Rosario] Central, the next head was that of my daughter Pia,” Di Maria told a television station in Rosario on Tuesday.
“Those months were horrible. We could only sit there and cry each night over not being able to carry out that dream return.”
Di Maria left Rosario for Benfica in 2007 and spent three years at the Portuguese club before joining Real Madrid.
After four years in the Spanish capital, he moved to Manchester United in a then-British record £59.7m deal, but spent just 12 months in the north-west before being sold to Paris St-Germain.
Di Maria had seven years with PSG before a season with Juventus and then joining Benfica in 2023.