Manchester United signed Lisandro Martinez from Ajax back in the summer of 2022, paying £48.5 million to the Dutch club with the Argentinian reunited with Erik ten Hag – his manager whilst with the former Dutch champions. Arsenal were interested in the central defender – but bottled his signing.
It has been reported by The Sun – yeah, I know how unreliable they are, that Arsenal were in fact offered Martinez in the summer of 2021 but turned the chance to sign him down – which could have been where their interest started as United started to track the player and sort out his signing.
Arsenal were, according to the media, rivalling with United to sign Martinez in the summer of 2022 and the story was made to be that United gazumped the North London club, sneaking in and signing the Argentinian from under their noses. Whether that was the case remains to be seen.
Initially, Martinez received lots of criticism from the famous has beens of football who will say anything to get their names noticed. They said that Martinez was too small for the rigours of the Premier League and would be bullied by the likes of Erling Haaland et al.
It shows that those has beens know as Martinez quickly became United’s best defender and held his own, despite being a small player. I guess it makes more sense to watch a player than assume what they will be like – or even criticise based on the clubs jersey they are wearing!
Martinez had been a major loss for United during the 2023/24 season with him spending the majority of the season on the sidelines through injury, which seemed to be one after the other. But he was back for the end of the season and starred in the Emirates FA Cup Final against Manchester City.
Arsenal have missed out on a great defender and that is so funny because at this moment in time they seem to be missing out on a lot. This so-called ‘Golden Generation’ that has been assembled have not yet achieved anything but a history of bottling things – but Arsenal fans still believe!
After the FA Cup Final, City manager Pep Guardiola, who saw his side 2-0 down against this United team heading into the last five minutes before a consolation goal was scored. Guardiola spoke about Martinez though, making it even sweeter that Arsenal once again missed out – saying;
“Lisandro Martinez is top five centre-backs in the world. He made the difference on this game by playing passes through our defence.”
Written by Paul
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