Di Maria to return to boyhood club despite previous threats

Benfica winger Angel di Maria will return to his boyhood club Rosario Central - 10 months after death threats forced him to backtrack on the same move.

The 37-year-old began his career at Rosario in 2005 and the Argentine top-flight club announced his return on Thursday.

"Our history together has more pages to write. Welcome home," the Rosario-based club said alongside a video posted on X.

The 2022 World Cup winner spent two seasons with Rosario before moving to Europe with Benfica.

He went on to play more than 700 games in Europe for Benfica, Real Madrid, Manchester United, Paris St-Germain and Juventus.

Di Maria was close to reing Rosario as a free agent last summer but increasing drug-related violence in the region and a number of threats against him and his family ended his plans.

Speaking last July, Di Maria said: "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.

"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 has won 30 trophies in Europe - including league titles in three countries and the 2013-14 Champions League with Real - as well as the World Cup and two Copa America trophies with Argentina.

He reed Benfica for a second spell in 2023 and will leave the club after next month's Club World Cup campaign in the United States.