Angel Di Maria has claimed that drug-related violence and threats to his family thwarted a 'dream' return to his boyhood club Rosario Central. 

The 36-year-old closed the international chapter of his glittering career after Argentina's Copa America triumph earlier this month and was due to return to the country, having departed for Benfica as a 19-year-old in 2007. 

The former Real Madrid and Manchester United winger had intended to return to Rosario in March but he has since revealed the tactics employed to assuage him from that desire. 

According to ESPN, they included the receipt of a pig's head with a bullet lodged in its forehead, as well as a package that contained a death threat against one of his daughter. 

Contemporaneous local media reports also claimed that a car left a sign in front of the private neighborhood where the 36-year-old usually stays addressed to the Di Maria family saying not even the provincial governor Maximiliano Pullaro could guarantee their safety if he returns to the city. 

Angel Di Maria has opened up on the tactics that were used to deter him from returning to his boyhood club Rosario Central

'There was a threat carried out in my parents' neighborhood which became public and at the same time another one at my sister's property which didn't come to light because my sister and my brother-in-law were scared and did not report it,' he told Canal 3. 

'Those months were horrible, we could only sit there and cry each night over not being able to carry out that dream.'

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Despite the threats, Di Maria received criticism from Rosario fans after deciding against a return to the club. He addressed those who hit out at him for the call and urged for empathy. 

'Those who don't understand, they don't put themselves in my place for one second,' he added. 'Because it's easy to mistreat others on social media without putting yourself in somebody else's shoes.'

Rosario, site of one of the world's largest agro-port hubs, has seen an intense increase in violence by drug trafficking groups, as the city is - according to experts - a potential outlet for illegal drugs to other countries.

Di Maria left his boyhood club back in 2007 after playing 36 games for Rosario Central, before signing for Benfica - where he made 125 appearances in three years.

He then left Portugal to join Spanish giants Real Madrid before later moving to Manchester United, PSG, Juventus and then returning to Benfica.

Argentine captain and Rosario-born Lionel Messi was also threatened in a letter last year after unidentified gunmen attacked a supermarket owned by his wife Antonela Roccuzzo's family.

Earlier this year, the Argentine government said it will send a bill to Congress to allow the armed forces to intervene in internal security operations to fight drug trafficking and crime in Rosario. 

Di Maria is currently a free agent following the expiration of his Benfica contract. He could be set for another return to the club, with reports indicating that the midfielder had reached an agreement to extend his stay.