Marcos Rojo has taken a brutal swipe at former Manchester United team-mate Harry Maguire – claiming Ole Gunnar Solskjaer only played him because of his £80million price tag.
The Argentine defender, who lost his place to Maguire during the 2019-20 season, revealed his X-rated tirade at Solskjaer when he questioned why the Englishman was starting despite ‘mistakes every week.’
Rojo, who spent six seasons at Old Trafford before joining Boca Juniors in 2021, told TYC Sports: ‘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.
Marcos Rojo (left) and Harry Maguire (right) compete with Liverpool’s Sadio Mane during a game playing together for Manchester United in 2019
Rojo has revealed he questioned United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as to why Maguire was being played in the Premier League ahead of him
The Argentine claimed Solskjaer felt obliged to play Maguire because he cost United £80m
‘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****, let me play because this guy is making huge mistakes every week.”‘
Maguire was the world’s most expensive defender when United paid £80m to sign him from Leicester City in the summer of 2019.
That forced Rojo, who signed for the club when Louis van Gaal was in charge in 2014, down the pecking order at centre-back.
In the 2019-20 campaign, Solskjaer played Rojo in United’s Europa League group games but started him only once in the Premier League before the Argentine suffered an injury.
In January 2020, Solskjaer granted Rojo his wish and sent him out on loan to Estudiantes in his homeland.
A year later, Rojo left United to sign permanently for Boca Juniors.
Rojo claims United manager at the time Solskjaer felt obliged to play Maguire every week because the club paid £80million for him
Rojo, who now plays for Boca Juniors, revealed the exchange with Solskjaer in an interview
Rojo said it was a good thing Maguire has now lost his place in the United side to Martinez
Back in September, the 33-year-old was handed an unusual suspension by the Argentina FA, who banned him from captaining Boca for a month after he kicked an opposition player in the head during the Superclasico with River Plate.
Last summer’s arrival of Martinez pushed Maguire out of Erik ten Hag’s United team and his future with United is in doubt.
His last appearance was in United’s horror show 3-0 defeat to Sevilla last week which saw them crash out of the UEFA Europa League.
The United captain was left out of Thursday night’s 2-2 draw at Tottenham Hotspur, in which they let slip a two-goal advantage.
