Ancelotti leaves sly dig on Man United’s Di Maria: ‘Some players want competition, others want money’

Carlo Ancelotti spoke about Real Madrid’s recent transfer dealings at his press conference today, notably, Xabi Alonso’s move to Bayern, and Di Maria’s move to Man United.

Ancelotti didn’t want either to leave, and on Xabi, the Italian expressed his surprise, saying:

‘It surprised us, everything looked quiet and settled, and then suddenly he announced he was leaving; but we owe him all our respects for everything he did here.’

Then, without so much as referring to him by name, Ancelotti left a little sly dig on Di Maria, who he tried to convince all summer to stay.

‘Some players like competition, others want to earn more money…if a player no longer has the motivation to play for the biggest club in the world, I have no problem in letting him leave.

Di Maria, of course, move to United in a British transfer record £59.7m move, which also sees him increase his wages to around £10m per year.