Ajax have reportedly accepted a £47 million bid for Lisandro Martinez from Manchester United, according to Angelo Mangiante. It was reported that United were in Amsterdam on Wednesday to try and close a deal for the Argentinian defender with reports confirming that on Thursday.
Arsenal were interested in the 24-year-old this summer but as soon as United got involved for the player the brief from the North London club suggested that they did not want to overpay for a player – which is strange considering they were beaten to the player – tantrum time?
Martinez will be a good signing for United as he knows the Erik Ten Hag way of football and life and seems to be a model professional based on what others have said about him. He can play in the centre of the defence, as a left-back or even a defensive midfielder.
The addition or Martinez into the United squad this summer will see him compete with the likes of Victor Lindelof, Harry Maguire and Raphael Varane. It seems likely that Phil Jones and Axel Tuanzebe could be sold, along with Eric Bailly – who seems to want to fight for his place at United.
It would not be a bad thing if United were left with five central defenders being that over the years one injury in this area seems to have cause massive problems for the club but you can understand that Ten Hag would be happy to keep a smaller squad, clearing the wage bill a little.
This transfer could well go through in the coming days with the player needing a work permit in the United Kingdom, which will take a few days to be completed. The player will then require a medical before signing his contract. The process could take a week or less.
It was expected that United would have liked to add Martinez to the squad for their pre-season tour which is currently in Australia ahead of their second match of the summer against Melbourne Victory on Friday. However, United only have two more matches in Australia after that.
They will face Crystal Palace in Melbourne on Tuesday 19 July before flying to Perth to face Aston Villa on Saturday 23 July and from there they will fly back to Manchester. If the deal can be done before the end of the weekend, we could see Martinez in Australia on pre-season.
However, if this deal goes into next week it would seem pointless in flying the player to the country, where he would need to adjust to the timezone and then do the same on his return to Manchester. United will face Atletico Madrid in Oslo and Rayo Vallecano at Old Trafford this summer.
Written by John Walker
