Manchester United completed the signing of the Argentinian defender from Sporting Lisbon for a fee of €20 million. The beleaguered former champions have come under immense criticism for their lack of activity in the transfer window and this signing should be a step in the right direction.
So who is Marcos Rojo? The 24 year old is a left-footed centerback, something Luis Van Gaal has been looking out for and is believed to fit into his 3-5-2 system. After signing a 5-year contract with Spartak Moscow, he moved to Sporting Lisbon after just one year in Russia. Rojo has won the league with Sporting and that works in the favor of Manchester United for he is a player who knows what it takes to win a championship. In his time there, he has scored 4 goals which is pretty impressive for a defender. He is known to possess excellent speed and this leads us to believe that he and Luke Shaw will be used to bomb teams from the left, given their pace and the ability to get back in time to defend. Interestingly he has been given the #5 jersey at United, which is the number of former defender Rio Ferdinand. Given that Rojo is originally a Center Back, he can be used in central defender too. The other possibility is being used along with Luke Shaw on the left in a left back – wing back system. He can play in both the CB and LB/WB positions. He is also known to have a quick temper, having being sent off twice. Reminds you of any other quick tempered, left footed Argentinian centerback at United? They have similar playing styles too. Gabriel Heinze.
Rojo, however, broke into the big league when he proved everybody wrong at the world cup. The Argentinian defense was described as ‘the worst at the world cup’ by journalist Edgardo Martolio, but Argentina ended the tournament as runners-up and Rojo played a pivotal role in defense. He started every match except the quarter finals clash for which he was suspended for Argentina in the world cup and only his teammate Angel Di Maria had more crosses directly at the goal than Marcos Rojo. He even made it to Diego Simeone’s World Cup XI, being described as “Rojo won the hearts of the Argentine people at the World Cup”. He had 5 interceptions, won 17 tackles and completed 191 passes. It remains to be seen how he will perform under the Dutchman’s reign at Manchester United. One of his more famous moments was his Rabona clearance from inside the box against Bosnia.
His heatmap against Germany in the World Cup should give us an idea about his playing position:
Interestingly enough, his transfer was extremely complex given the 3rd party ownership issues. Rojo was 75% ‘owned’ by Doyen Sports who had paid 75% of the transfer fee on behalf of Sporting when he was bought from Moscow. So when Manchester United bid €20 million, it was really Doyen calling the shots and Manchester United had to deal with them rather than Sporting. Once Doyen agreed, Sporting did oppose the sale of one of their key players. Here is the interesting part. Doyen now claimed that Sporting owed them 75% of any rejected bid too, so Sporting had to technically shell out €15 million to retain Rojo. Sporting quickly severed ties with Doyen Sports and Doyen threatened to sue. After much drama, a deal was struck which included a one year loan spell for Nani at Sporting with United paying 100% of his wages. There seems to be a possibility of this 3rd party ownership having worked in United’s favor in prizing away one of Sporting’s best players from them. Watch out for a separate series from us about 3rd party ownership and how it works!
As of now, welcome to Manchester United Marcos Rojo!
