- Red Devils broke transfer record for centre-half
- Quickly made him club captain
- Others forced down defensive pecking order
WHAT HAPPENED? Ex-Argentina international Rojo moved to Old Trafford in 2014, five years before the Red Devils broke the bank to make England star Maguire the most expensive defender in world football. That deal, done during the summer of 2019, set United back £80 million ($100m) and forced their hand somewhat regarding team selections. Rojo says Ole Gunnar Solskjaer used to pick Maguire as a result of his price tag, with glaring errors often overlooked as others were forced to watch on from the sidelines.
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WHAT THEY SAID: Rojo has told TyC Sports of battling United’s club captain for game time: “In 2019 I was very good in England. I was playing in the Europa League but I was very angry with the coach because he was putting Maguire in the team instead of me. Thank God they have taken him out now and Licha [Lisandro] Martinez is playing. One day I went to Solskjaer's office to tell him to let me leave for another club or put me in the starting line-up. I said it was wrong that I wasn't playing. But he told me that Maguire had to play regardless because they had paid so much money for him. He was making huge mistakes every week already and I told Solskjaer: ‘Son of a b*tch, let me play because this guy is making huge mistakes every week’.”
THE BIGGER PICTURE: Maguire was finally dropped by United early in the 2022-23 campaign, with Erik ten Hag making World Cup winners Martinez and Raphael Varane his preferred centre-half pairing, and the 30-year-old is out of action again at present after picking up an injury.
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GettyWHAT NEXT? Rojo saw his exit requests at Old Trafford granted in January 2020 when he was allowed to return to his homeland in a loan spell at Estudiantes, before then completing a permanent switch to Boca Juniors a year later – with the fiery 33-year-old still on the books at La Bombonera.