Edinson Cavani spoke to Angel Di Maria about Man Utd after his wife called England a 's***hole'

Former Paris Saint-Germain forward spoke with team-mates Angel Di Maria and Ander Herrera about their Manchester United experiences before moving to Old Trafford

Angel Di Maria's miserable year at Manchester United didn't put Edinson Cavani off a move to the English club, with the pair speaking privately before the Uruguayan made the switch in 2020.

Uruguay frontman Cavani had a number of options at his disposal after deciding to leave Paris Saint-Germain upon the expiry of his contract in the summer of 2020. United were one of the interested parties, and the striker had the luxury of being able to speak to two of their former players before leaving the Parc Des Princes.

Di Maria and Ander Herrera were both part of the PSG squad that season, playing their part in a run to the Champions League final under Thomas Tuchel. The pair had vastly different experiences of life in Manchester, though, with the Argentine leaving just one year on from his club-record move.

The decision to move to Old Trafford was a rewarding one for Cavani, at least at first. The frontman helped Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's team reach the final of the Europa League, but left in 2022 after seeing his opportunities limited by the signing of Cristiano Ronaldo.

Di Maria's wife Jorgelina Cardoso notably called Manchester a "s***hole" after the Argentina international's year at Old Trafford. The former Real Madrid man joined for £59.7m after helping Los Blancos win the Champions League, but left for PSG just 12 months later.

“I didn’t want to go to Manchester because at that moment in time, I was friends with Gianinna Maradona, who was married to [Sergio] Aguero, and we flew from Madrid to his house in Manchester to pay him a visit for two or three days when Angel had a few days off at Real Madrid,” she told Los Angeles de la Manana (via The Independent)..

“It was horrible! All of it was horrible, we went to the house and we were like... ‘See you later guys, we’re out of here’. When we left, I said to him, ‘Go to any country – except England’. Anyway, one year later and there we were in England and it was horrible, a s***hole.”

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Speaking to Manchester United's official website in 2020, Cavani opened up on the discussions he had with his PSG colleagues. "I spoke with Ander a lot, as well as other team-mates, like Angel Di Maria, who I was also with at Paris," he said.

"It was genuinely getting to the last minute and I called Ander to have a chat. I have a lot of admiration for Ander, for the kind of person he is, and I had the feeling that his words were going to help me out, by telling me a bit about what it was like at United.

"And so yes, it's true that after I'd finished talking with Ander, we came to an agreement here with the club. I hadn't known Ander for too long, but we formed and enjoyed a close friendship during that time at PSG, and, today, we are still very good mates."

Cavani was 33 at the time of the move, and had never played in England, but wasted little time making an impact. He scored his first Premier League goals before starting a game in the competition, including a match-winning double from the bench against Southampton, before finishing his first season in fine form.

As Solskjaer's team pushed for a top four finish while remaining competitive in Europe, Cavani scored 10 times in the last 11 games of the season. That return included an equaliser in the Europa League final against Villarreal, sending the game to extra-time, but United were ultimately beaten 11-10 on penalties.

Cavani found minutes harder to come by in his second season, though, with Ronaldo leading the line after returning to the club after 12 years away. He played less than 1,000 minutes all season, scoring twice, and Solskjaer would later admit the South American paid the price more than anyone else as a result of Ronaldo's arrival.

“Edinson Cavani was the one that suffered the most when Cristiano came in – we’d played and got Edinson into a certain way of understanding the way we played. Cristiano – when you know him and speak to him, he wanted to play three out of four games, he realised he’s getting older as well. But when you leave him out once, he’s not happy!" the Norwegian said in 2024.

“With the ball, with him in the team, it was no problem. Without him [pressing], we had to change a little bit the different roles we’d gotten used to.

"We were one of the highest pressing teams before [Ronaldo joined]. We let Dan James go when Cristiano came in, and they’re two different types of players. It was the right decision to make for me – it didn’t turn out to be the right one.”

It was no surprise to see Cavani leave Old Trafford at the end of the 2021-22 season. He followed his spell in England with a year at Spanish club Valencia, scoring five times in La Liga, but was subsequently on the move again.

He joined Boca Juniors, a club he had been linked with in the past, and took the number 10 shirt made famous by club legend Diego Maradona. He has scored six times in nine appearances for the club in 2024, including a hat-trick in a league victory over Belgrano at the start of March.

Boca reached the final of the Copa Libertadores last season, losing to Fluminense, but a lowly league finish means they won't take part in the competition this term. Instead, Cavani and his colleagues will embark on a Copa Sudamericana campaign, with their first group game coming away to Bolivian side Nacional Potosi on April 3.

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