Marcos Rojo says former Manchester United head coach Ole Gunnar Solskjaer only started Harry Maguire because of his record price tag for a defender.
The England international became the most expensive defender of all time after moving to United from fellow Premier League club Leicester City for a record fee of €87.1m in the summer of 2019.
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that year [2019], I was doing really well in England, I was playing in the Europa League,” said Rojo, who now plays for Boca Juniors. “I was really angry with the coach. Maguire was playing, now thank God, they dropped him and Licha [Lisandro] Martinez is playing.”
Rojo made just nine appearances for United in the 2019–20 campaign before rejoining boyhood club Estudiantes on loan in January 2020.
The Argentine defender revealed that he asked Solskjaer for an explanation that season as to why Maguire was starting despite the player “making mistakes every Sunday”.
“One day I went to him [Solskjaer] Tell him in the office to let me go or let me in [the starting line-up]” said Red.
“He knew it was wrong that I didn’t play all the time. He told me that they paid him so much money that he had to play no matter what. And I told him, ‘Let me play because this guy is making big mistakes every Sunday. .”
Rojo scored two goals in 122 appearances during his six years at United and left Old Trafford for a permanent move to Boca in February 2021.
Maguire, 30, has since lost his place in Erik ten Hag’s starting XI at Old Trafford to Raphael Varane this season and has made just 13 league appearances.