"Things started really well," Di María told BBC Sport. "Everything was flowing. Then I started to have issues with Van Gaal and from there everything fell apart."
Di María, now 38 and back at boyhood club Rosario Central in Argentina, joined Manchester United in August 2014 as a then-British-record £59.7 million signing from Real Madrid. He was handed the number seven shirt. The opening six games produced three goals and four assists. The signs pointed to success.
Then the meetings started.
"He never showed me what I was doing well, just the negatives, over and over," Di María said. "Eventually I got fed up."
Van Gaal moved Di María across multiple positions throughout the season — wide right, wide left, attacking midfield, deeper midfield — never settling on the role that had made him so effective under Carlo Ancelotti and before that Vicente del Bosque. By the time a red card against Arsenal in an FA Cup tie in March arrived, followed by a succession of minor injuries, the relationship was irreparably broken.
A home burglary at his Manchester property in January added personal trauma to professional frustration. His wife, Jorgelina Cardoso, has spoken separately about how miserable the family were throughout the posting — unhappy with the city, the weather, the environment.
"When all those things happen — when you're not playing, when things are not going well for you, when you have problems inside the club — it affects you a lot," Di María said. "It made me hate being there."
He was sold to Paris Saint-Germain the following summer for £44.3 million — a loss of around £15 million for United. He then helped Argentina win the Copa América in 2021 and the World Cup in 2022, scoring in the final against France.
Van Gaal has previously disclosed publicly that he never requested Di María's signing and considered the transfer a mistake from the outset. That revelation, Di María has said, stung more than the season itself.
Despite all of it, the Argentine drew a clear line between the experience and the decision to pursue it.
"It was a decision I wanted to make. I wanted to go to United. The football, coming to the stadiums, the atmosphere, the love from the fans — I regret none of that."
The season itself is another matter entirely.