Defenders Chris Smalling (AS Roma) and Matteo Darmian (Parma) left Manchester United this summer transfer window, but position group mate Marcos Rojo stayed behind. Although it was certainly not from a lack of trying.
It was reported that the Argentine had a loan deal to Crystal Palace in the works, late in the window, but it fell apart. Rojo himself said that he had a deal to head to another northwest England club, Everton, coming together but that also collapsed near the end of the window.
Marcos Rojo wants to make sure he can keep his spot in manager Lionel Scaloni’s Argentina national side, and he knows he can’t do so unless he gets regular playing time somewhere.
“I talked to Scaloni, he told me that he was happy because in the preseason I had played many games, that I looked good and that’s why he called me, but that I had to play,” Rojo said to Argentinian media while on international duty this week.
“I’m sure that to play in the national team you have to play in your club, you have to always be there, and when you’re here, show why.”
Rojo also explained why the move to Everton never materialized. It was out of his hands, and instead up to his bosses.
“It’s difficult to leave when you are in such a big club,” he continued. “I had the possibility of Everton, but by decisions of the club or the manager it wasn’t possible.
“Now I have to fight until December and if it doesn’t work out, I will try to leave.”
“The qualifiers and the Copa America are coming and I want to be part of that. I don’t want to be out again, I want to exhaust all the possibilities and compete to be here.”
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly appears on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
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