Di Maria on transfer to Saudi Arabia: 'I have no desire to go to such a place'
Argentine forward Angel Di Maria is at the final stage of his professional career, but he is still playing in Europe with Lisbon's Benfica.
This season, the 37-year-old has played 32 matches, scored 14 goals, and provided 9 assists.
Despite his age, Di Maria remains in demand on the transfer market, and his name was linked with a move to Saudi Arabia, where clubs are willing to pay large sums to acquire the current World Cup champion.
However, Di Maria dismissed such a transfer option:
"I had many offers with numbers I honestly have never seen on paper in my life. But my family and I ultimately said, 'No, we're going to Lisbon, we want to return to Benfica.'
"I had the chance to go a year before I joined Juventus, but I wanted to try the Italian league, and Juventus are the biggest club in Italy.
"The truth is, I did receive an offer from Saudi Arabia. I don’t have an agent; my friend handles my affairs and helps me with everything. I got the offer, looked at it, and declined.
"Then another offer came in, more than twice as big as the previous one, from the same club. I declined again. Then my friend said to me, 'Now we have to tell them honestly, because they don't understand that you don't want to go there to play.'
"I said, 'Well, if they offer us that much, maybe we can think about it.' My wife then said, 'How are they going to offer you that much, are you crazy?' And it turned out the crazy one was right.
"We talked about it at home. What if I make them a very big request, and they agree? When my friend told me they refused, I said to my wife, 'See, I wasn’t crazy.' Then I was asked, 'What now?'
"Well, now we’re going to Lisbon, to Benfica. I have no desire to go anywhere at the end of my career. Moreover, I have no desire to go to a place like Saudi Arabia," said the Argentine forward.
