Former Manchester United defender Marcos Rojo has unleashed a rather bullish rant about former ‘teammate’ Harry Maguire.
The Argentine centre-back spent seven years at United after joining in a £16m deal from Sporting Lisbon in 2014, but he never became the defender we had hoped for, but he was entertaining to watch at times.
As a United player, Rojo was rash at best, always diving into reckless tackles but was never sent off in a Red shirt.
Rojo was pushed down the pecking order when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer signed Maguire from Leicester City in 2019.
The former Argentina international only started one Premier League game in Maguire’s debut season, so it was safe to say the writing was on the wall.
Rojo has reflected on this period from his time at United rather negatively, which will come as no surprise anyone, but it is still surprising to hear a professional footballer express himself in such a colourful way.
He told TyC Sports (as per The Express): “In 2019, I was playing in the Europa League, but I was really angry with the Manchester coach [Solskjaer].
“Because he was putting Maguire [in the team] instead of me, who, thank god, finally they took him out from the starting line-up for Licha [Lisandro] Martinez.
“One day, I went to Solskjaer’s office to tell him to let me leave for the other club or put [me] in the starting line-up, but he told me that Maguire had to play yes or yes because of the money they paid for him.
“He [Maguire] was making huge mistakes already, and I told Solskjaer: ‘Son of a b****, let me play because this guy is making huge mistakes every week’.”
Rojo’s spell at United came to an end in 2021, but this would suggest that Maguire was untouchable under Solskjaer.
I guess this comes back to the debate about managers and the loyalty they have with their most expensive signings. It should’t be the case and it was one of Solskjaer’s downfalls.
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