Report: Angel Di Maria could leave Juventus, go back to Argentina in January

The actual impact that Juventus’ big-name signings from the 2022 summer mercato seems to be less and less as the current season has gone by. There’s been injuries to every single one of those names — we haven’t seen Paul Pogba in a game since Las Vegas, Bremer and Leandro Paredes have recently picked up muscle injuries and then there’s Angel Di Maria.

After Juve’s loss to Benfica that bounced them from the Champions League, that Di Maria tenure in Turin is looking like it might end earlier than expected.

According to Italian journalist Nicolo Schira, Di Maria is very much considering leaving Juventus in January and heading back to Argentina. Of course, that second part was always going to be the plan when Di Maria first arrived at Juventus on a one-year contract with visions of getting prepared for the World Cup with Argentina at a club playing in the Champions League. It was what was going to come after the World Cup break that had some people wondering about — and that was before Tuesday night’s result in Portugal.

In an interview after Juve’s Champions League elimination, Di Maria said the following: “My great dream is to return to Rosario Central. I have been hoping for a long time, it’s not easy but I’d love to. The players in Argentina dream of future in Europe, while I dream of return to Rosario.” That has, as you might imagine, fed into the report from Schira that Di Maria could end his stay at Juventus in January rather than when his contract expires next summer.

With how the 2022-23 season has gone for Di Maria at Juventus, you can understand why there might be an idea to accelerate his plan to return to Argentina and wrap up his career there. He’s been hampered by multiple injuries, he’s dealt with the aftermath of the red card against Monza and, of course, there’s been the lack of team success as a whole with how Juve has played this season.

That’s surely not what Di Maria — or any of the other summer signings — were expected when they agreed to move to Turin. And while Bremer and Pogba are players that Juve will build around the next few years, Di Maria always had the out of this being a one-year situation. I guess we shouldn’t be surprised if it becomes even shorter than that.