Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal has claimed that jet lag was the reason for Marcos Rojo's poor performance against Everton on Sunday.

The full-back was hauled off the pitch at half time of United's 1-0 win at Old Trafford and replaced with youngster Timothy Fosu-Mensah.

Rojo, who has been linked with a summer transfer away from the club, returned to the UK on Thursday from his homeland Argentina, where he spent the international break.

"I think Rojo has a problem with his jet lag, otherwise I cannot imagine," Van Gaal told reporters. "So I changed him, and I have seen the space on the right side and I said that to Timothy that you have to take profit of that and when a player is doing that, that is also a bit of luck for the manager but every credit is for Timothy not the manager."

Rojo joined the Red Devils from Sporting Lisbon in 2014.

Written by
Danielle Joynson