Marcos Rojo reveals his mother played key role in move back to Estudiantes from Manchester United
United have five centre-backs even without Rojo’s services
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Your support makes all the difference.Manchester United‘s key move in the January transfer window was to bring in Bruno Fernandes from Sporting CP.
A protracted search for a striker to play a squad role until the end of the season, meanwhile, somehow wound past Josh King, Teemu Pukki and others to land at Odion Ighalo.
But there was also business at Old Trafford with regards to outgoing deals, with Ashley Young heading to Italy and Inter Milan and Marcos Rojo also moving overseas, back to Argentina and his first club Estudiantes de La Plata.
The centre-back has barely featured for United over the last two-and-a-half years, with squad competition and a host of injuries limited his involvement to just 12 games in 2017/18, six last season and nine this. In the Premier League, Rojo has not featured in a matchday squad since playing a single minute at the end of a 3-1 win over Brighton back in November.
It meant a January exit was his only route to first-team action, and the Argentina international, who turns 30 next month, has revealed that family reasons, as well as the desire to regain match fitness, played a big part in his choice of club.
“Many things came together,” he said in an interview with El Intransigente. “I need to play, return to my level, the family insisted, my old mother told me to come back.
“I had many offers to go to other clubs, but what’s better than being at home. I hope to be on the pitch as soon as possible.”
Rojo came through as a youth player with Estudiantes, spending three seasons with the first team before heading to Russia, Portugal and, ultimately, United.
He says that returning to his first club was something he has hoped for and the presence of ex-Man United midfielder Juan Sebastian Veron – now the president at Estudiantes – made it possible.
“I’m very happy. It’s something I dreamed of, there was a chance and it could be done. I talked to Sebastian quite a lot but one day my head clicked and I decided to return. It all came together.
“I suffered a lot of injuries lately, I went to the bench a lot. And I needed to compete and what better than to do it at home.”
Rojo has reached the 20 league games marker just twice in his six years at Old Trafford, and even without him there is plenty of depth for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to call upon, pending fitness.
Harry Maguire and Victor Lindelof are the established pairing, while Phil Jones has been involved again recently, Eric Bailly is back to fitness finally and Axel Tuanzebe is still at the club.
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