Former Man United star Angel Di Maria is warned 'do not come back to Rosario or we will kill a family member' after he suggested a transfer to his boyhood club - as gangs try to intimidate locals 

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Argentina forward Angel Di Maria received a threat at his family home on the outskirts of Rosario early Monday morning, local media reported, amid a wave of drug-related violence in the city where Lionel Messi also hails from.

The message comes a week after Di Maria, currently playing for Portuguese champions Benfica, said he would like to end his career at his boyhood club Rosario Central.

Local media reports said 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.

'Tell your son Angel not to come back to Rosario because we will kill a family member. Not even Pullaro is going to save you. 

'We don't leave paper notes. We leave bullets and dead people behind,' read the message, according to the news portal Infobae, citing police sources.

Angel Di Maria's family have received death threats over his potential return to Rosario

Di Maria's parents were reportedly told that aggressors will 'kill a family member' if he returns

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.

Esteban Santantino, who works in security for the local government, told broadcaster Todo Noticias: 'That kind of threat brings a lot of social commotion and that is their aim - to make the population scared, hit public figures'. 

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.

Back in March, one man on a motorbike was caught on CCTV walking up to the premises in Messi's home city of Rosario, about 180 miles northwest of Buenos Aires, and firing repeatedly at metal shutters over the windows and front door.

Lionel Messi and Antonela Roccuzzo were similarly threatened by thugs in March last year

Fourteen shots were reportedly fired at the supermarket.

The attackers are also said to have left a handwritten message at the scene which said: 'Messi, Javkin is not going to look after you.'

Pablo Javkin is the current mayor of Rosario, the largest city in the central province of Santa Fe.

The Argentine government said last week 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.