French side Paris Saint Germain is set to battle Everton for Manchester United defender Marcos Rojo.
As reported by the Sun, Marco Silva wants to bring the Argentine to Goodison Park but faces competition from PSG who joined the bidding war with Marseille and Zenit St Petersburg. Jose Mourinho wants to offload the defender as he views him as surplus to requirements at Old Trafford but he will only let Rojo leave for the right place.
The 28-year-old joined the Red Devils for years ago and agreed on a new long-term contract last season. However, he suffered a cruciate ligament injury last term and couldn’t play a big enough part in the team’s efforts to reclaim the Premier League’s top spot. He has already fallen behind the likes of Phil Jones and Chris Smalling in the pecking order and has been told he can leave.
He is a son of an outstanding semi-pro player – Marcos Snr – a young Rojo and would spend his days immersed in football. Aged just four, he entered into his first involvement in organised sport, signing up for Las Malvinas, and he swiftly made an impression. “He was different from the others,” says coach Mario Barbarino.
“At the age of four or five he understood what I was saying to him, he understood what it meant to get up and play on the pitch at the age of five. Training with the older kids, and the older kids hit you or play hard, and you pick that up and you never forget it. Running into kids who are two or three years older. At that age, that makes a difference.”
Suitably toughened by his experiences, Marcos rose to the rank of captain and, playing in midfield, scored twice in a junior league match against Estudiantes. At the age of 10, he was invited for a trial with the Primera Division club, a watershed moment in his development.
“Malvinas is a club, but more a neighbourhood club,” admits Rojo. “It is poorer, it is more about being with friends, but at Estudiantes everything was more professional, more like real football. I learned a lot there. Estudiantes was a great school.”
During his time in the club’s youth setup, Marcos also became an educational tool for his coaches. “He is an example to me as a coach,” says Alejandro Russo. “I work with young players and I can say that a boy who used to come to training on his bike when he was 12 – he used to travel 10km here and 10km back – he trained and he made his dream come true. He was a boy who came to training very happy, perhaps lacking some of the right gear, clothing, football boots, but he was always smiling and because of that his team-mates loved him.”
That was, perhaps at times, in spite of Rojo’s wholehearted commitment to training. “When he was going to challenge a forward, he would win,” says Claudio Vivas, another of his coaches. “He won because of his frame of mind; that was very important. Temperament was very important for him. As a very young boy, a winner, he wanted to win. When he went on the field he wanted to win.”
Over time, that mentality carried him to the attention of first team manager, Roberto Nestor Sensini who was impressed by an 18-year-old Rojo’s display in a training match between Estudiantes’ first team and youth team, and duly promoted him to the senior squad.
Marcos’ assimilation was made easier by immediate acceptance from his new colleagues. Aware of his background, his team-mates presented him with new boots so that he could train properly. “Straightaway, because of his charisma, he was adopted by the professional players,” recounts coach Alejandro Russo.
It just so happened that Rojo had worked his way into Estudiantes’ finest squad for almost 40 years. Since winning three successive Copa Libertadores in 1968, 1969 and 1970 – the first prompting the infamously fierce Intercontinental Cup victory over United – Los Pincharratas had won only three major honours. Managed by Alejandro Sabella and inspired by enduring midfield genius Juan Sebastian Veron, Estudiantes won the Primera Division and the Copa in Marcos’s first senior season.
“I was 19. That was incredible, indescribable,” beams Rojo. “They are memories I will have for my whole life. The day I made my debut was a very happy one because I had worked a lot, it was hard work. It is difficult in Argentina to get out of my neighbourhood. It is a poor neighbourhood.”
More fleeting was his stay in Argentina. Within two years of ruling the continent, Rojo moved to Europe. A patchy season with Spartak Moscow preceded two years at Sporting Lisbon, but while his domestic form steadily improved, it was his dramatic rise to international prominence which precipitated a move to Old Trafford. Selected for Argentina’s 2014 World Cup squad by Sabela – now national team manager – Marcos was one of the outstanding defenders at the tournament.
United’s attention had been pricked. It was during the Reds’ pre-season tour of America that Rojo became aware of a potential move to Old Trafford. “I couldn’t believe it,” smiles the defender. “I was celebrating, jumping around the house with my girlfriend. It was incredible, for Manchester United to be interested in me, for it to be so real, it was so exciting.”
Now approaching his fifth season in Manchester and having made a substantial impact on proceedings, winning four trophies and registering over 100 appearances, the ceaseless grit and moxie ingrained in Marcos Rojo has ensured that he has made his mark as a Red.