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This article is part of Football FanCast's Transfer Focus series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent transfer news...

According to Sky Sports, Manchester United defender Marcos Rojo is set to stay at the club after a prospective move to Everton fell through on deadline day.

What's the word?

Reports in recent weeks had claimed Ole Gunnar Solskjaer would be keen on trimming down his squad based on new arrivals, and following the completion of Harry Maguire's world-record move to Old Trafford, that opened the door for some of United's centre-backs to potentially leave.

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Argentina international Marcos Rojo appeared to be a key Everton target after the Toffees' failure in getting Kurt Zouma to join from Chelsea. It was reported earlier on deadline day that the Merseyside club were in talks with United over a deal for Rojo, but Sky Sports have now claimed that a potential deal fell by the wayside after Everton "baulked" at the fee the Red Devils were demanding.

Verdict

So following United's apparent reluctance to let go of Rojo on the cheap, and the earlier refusal to let Chris Smalling leave on loan, the Red Devils are left with a plethora of centre-back options for the upcoming season.

Aside from the two just mentioned, Solskjaer can also call upon new arrival Maguire, Victor Lindelof, Axel Tuanzebe, Phil Jones and Eric Bailly, when fit. Even if the United manager was keen on playing with a back-three, the number of central defenders at the club would be an issue. But the Norwegian has tended to favour a traditional four-man defence, and it is incredibly difficult to see how he can convincingly manage to keep all of his players happy.

However, whilst a move for Rojo may have fallen through on the English deadline day, European sides could still come in for the Argentine and so United's centre-back could still be on the way out of the club by the end of the summer.

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