Here is the curious case of Angel Di Maria’s rookies!
The generally accepted Di Maria rookie sticker is from Panini Futebol 2007-2008. This rookie shows Di Maria in the Benfica kit in what was his first season with the club.
Prior to Benfica, Di Maria played for Rosario Central in the Argentinian League between 2005-2007. Here is where things get interesting! In the collection Torneo Apertura 2006-2007 we see a picture of Di Maria in the Rosario Central kit but under the name “Costa Tomas”.
If we refer to the collection Panini Clausura 2008, we can see the “real” Costa Tomas who played for Rosario Central between 2005-2008.
If was to guess, the authors of Torneo Apertura 2006-2007 were intending to put the photo of the “real” Costa Tomas in the album, but accidentally put a photo of a young Angel Di Maria. If this was the case, the authors made an iconic mistake by accidentally making the arguable true rookie of Angel Di Maria. As for my opinion, I am probably leaning towards the Benfica sticker as the reputable rookie sticker as the Torneo Apertura 2006-2007 collection seems to be a bootleg album and, well, the name is wrong.
If this mixup wasn’t weird enough, there is another twist! As we have established, Di Maria signed for Benfica in the 2007/08 season. Well, their arch rivals, FC Porto, signed the “real” Costa Tomas in 2008! What are the chances the two players involved in a mixup in an obscure Argentinian sticker album end up at Portugal’s two biggest clubs!
Who knows? Maybe Porto were thinking they were signing the great Angel Di Maria haha!
