Friday, 25th July, 2014
Carlo Ancelotti is preparing to fight to keep Angel di Maria at Real Madrid, despite clear signs the club's president Florentino Perez wants to offload the winger.
Real Madrid have just snapped up James Rodriguez from Monaco for a fee of between €75m and €80m and are looking at player sales to recoup a portion of the funds.
Perez is ready to sell Di Maria, who has interest from Manchester United and Paris Saint-Germain, and Sami Khedira, who has been linked with Arsenal.
But Ancelotti is a firm fan of Di Maria and has not given up hope of him remaining at the Bernabeu, believing the new arrivals mean more competition but not necessarily a departure.
"Di Maria is a Real Madrid player", Ancelotti told a press conference, when asked about the Argentine.
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"He must return [for training] on 5th August.
"Of course, it's clear that there is going to be more competition with James [Rodriguez] and [Toni] Kroos, but it is like that at all major clubs and it gives energy to the team.
"Last season we had some problems in the attacking line because of injured players that we couldn't replace.
"With these two players, [Kroos and Rodriguez], we have the possibility of going through [the season] without a problem", the Italian concluded.
It remains to be seen if Ancelotti will be granted his wish to keep hold of Di Maria, especially with a potential €60m fee able to be generated by selling the former Benfica man.
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