Benfica: almost 30 years later, Rosario Central is paying… 26 balls by Dí Maria | MORE PAGE

The situation goes back to 1994, when Ángel Di María made the first touch of the ball close to home, at Club Atlético El Torito. Rosario Central wanted to take the Argentine boy and the president of El Torito at the time, Jorge Cornejo, as a “negotiating chip”, accepted 26 football.

Problem: the debt extended over time and is now paid off… almost 30 years later! The person who explained the situation was the current president of El Torito, Di María’s first club, before he moved definitively to the youth teams of Rosario Central, in March 1995, seven years ago on February 14.

«The manager thought about the immediate need, he tried to consolidate Torito’s scarce resources. The balls never arrived”, said Germán Ángel, on the program Always togetherfrom Cadena 3 Rosario, in statements published on Friday.

However, Rosario has already fulfilled his promise which included a player who has invested millions of euros in the various club transfers throughout his career. “It was a very nice move because, apart from the balls, the club is in dire need”, said Germán Ángel, about an agreement that, at the time, was made by mouth and, perhaps therefore, with implementation postponed in time.

«The club never complained, because it was done according to their word. Today, community clubs are formed differently. We will use the balls”, he said. And they will come in handy, because according to Germán Ángel, the club has 800 youngsters.

“We have 800 boys. The club is working hard,” he said, highlighting Di María’s social role there. “It’s great to have so many people in training, but they have to be up to the task. We have a lot of respect for Angel. We know that sometimes you can’t come here because of lack of time», he said.