Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.
We can only guess at how most of the Manchester United players reacted to news that the club had beaten Manchester City to signing Alexis Sanchez. Marcos Rojo though, it seems, was not thrilled at the prospect.
The Argentine defender, currently on international duty, has opened up on his and Sanchez’s fractious relationship when the Chilean attacker was at Arsenal, revealing that they would regularly insult each other.
“Alexis is a great player, but we didn’t used to get on out on the pitch,” Rojo told TyC Sports.
“Every time we came up against one another, whether in internationals or when United played Arsenal, I would give him a good kicking — and he did the same to me. On top of that I used to insult him, and he would reply in kind. So when I learned that he was going to join United I said, ‘Oh, f****** hell, no, now this guy’s going to be here’.”
Rojo has established himself as one of United’s more robust defenders and, considering Sanchez’s astronomical wages, Jose Mourinho pleaded with the Argentina international not to injure his former foe in training.
“‘We’re going to sign Alexis, I don’t want you smashing him up in training tomorrow’ (Mourinho told Rojo). He burst out laughing.”
Sanchez has struggled to produce his best form since arriving at Old Trafford in January but Mourinho recently claimed that we won’t see the best of the 29-year-old until next season, presumably when he has fully settled in the United team.
While Rojo is involved with Argentina, he has not played for United since February 3rd as he continues his recovery from injury.
