• Premier League

Di Maria: Van Gaal made me want to join United

Manchester United winger Angel Di Maria says the opportunity to work with Louis van Gaal was the driving factor behind his decision to leave Real Madrid.

Di Maria, who joined United for a British transfer record fee of £59.7 million in August, has enjoyed a bright start to his Old Trafford career and scored the opening goal in his side's emphatic 4-0 win over Queens Park Rangers last weekend.

Real Madrid fans have expressed their disappointment at the departure of Di Maria but the Argentine says he has no regrets about leaving the European champions; he felt the need for a change and is now determined to help United regain their reputation by restoring them to the top of the table.

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"Van Gaal was really important for me, in order to come here," Di Maria told Perform. "[He] was one of the first who spoke about bringing me here.

"The coach always has the last word about the players he wants. I am really grateful to him because, thanks to him, I am now playing for United.

"I keep trying to improve every day and for that reason I wanted to come here to United. I needed to change my life. I will try my best to play the right way. I will try my best every match and show my arrival at Old Trafford was worth it.

"Manchester United are trying to grow. We already know we didn't start the Premier [League] in the right way but those things always happen in football."

Marcos Rojo made his United debut in the weekend win over QPR and Di Maria has backed his fellow countryman to be a success at the club following his switch from Sporting Lisbon.

"Marcos Rojo has shown at the World Cup he is capable," Di Maria added. "He did really well there and he deserved to come here. Hopefully he will be able to improve every day as he did at the World Cup and he will bring a lot of good things to United."

Di Maria also said he is not haunted by missing the World Cup final - in which Argentina were beaten 1-0 by Germany - and was happy to leave Real Madrid on a high. His man-of-the-match performance against Atletico Madrid in the 2014 Champions League final guided them to a long-awaited 10th European title.

"I don't think about it anymore. I couldn't play in the [World Cup] final but these are things that happen in football," Di Maria said. "I had already played a lot of games throughout the season, including the Champions League final, and that was part of the reason [for my injury].

"In the World Cup we came second but every day we made the [Argentine] people happy and it was the same for us because many people had confidence in us and in the end, we got to the final.

"I think I was in a great moment when we won the Champions [League] - 'La Decima.' It was very important for Madrid. It was something that they had spent many years trying to achieve. I have many friends there [at Real Madrid] and I will certainly stay in contact with them."

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