Everton missed out on signing Marcos Rojo on transfer deadline day and were forced to go into the new season with Michael Keane, Yerry Mina and Mason Holgate at centre-back. The Toffees failed in their bid to bring Kurt Zouma back to Goodison Park and turned their attentions elsewhere. Unfortunately, they didn’t get their No.1 target and Manchester United’s owners were to blame.
According to Paul Hirst of The Times, Joel and Avram Glazer blocked the deal at the last minute because they didn’t want to strengthen a Premier League top-six rival. Despite Rojo being out of favour under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and finding himself behind Harry Maguire, Victor Lindelof, Chris Smalling, Phil Jones and Eric Bailly in the pecking order, he still wasn’t allowed to leave.
The 29-year-old has made 113 appearances in all competitions for United since joining from Sporting CP in 2014, but he’s been on the periphery in the last two seasons. Rojo racked up just 640 minutes of Premier League football in 2017/18 and only 211 in 2018/19. The Argentine international was reportedly furios with the decision to keep him at Old Trafford.
It was surprising Everton wanted him given United deemed him surplus to requirements, and it was even more of a shock that the Red Devils didn’t cash in on an outcast when they had the chance.