‘Doesn’t know the word pain’ – What Lisandro Martinez will bring to Manchester United

Lisandro Martinez has been confirmed as a Manchester United player in a £57m deal from Ajax, with the initial fee reported to be £49m.

It's another defender from the Eredivisie pitching up at Old Trafford, following Tyrell Malacia's arrival from Feyenoord.

In order to find out everything about Martinez, we got in touch with Kevin van Nunen from Eurosport Netherlands to give us the full lowdown on the Argentina centre-back.

The now 24-year-old Martinez has been a very reliable player for Ajax. It was a bullseye transfer! He came over in the summer of 2019 from the Argentinian team Defensa y Justicia, which is why nobody knew him in The Netherlands. He was the second player from Argentina in a short time, after Nicolas Tagliafico, who became one of the key players in the 18/19 season, so there was confidence in him being a good addition. At first, there was however a bit of hesitation as well: is Martinez a full back, a centre-back or even a midfielder perhaps? He played several positions, but when he eventually played as a central defender his strengths came to light. And what strength he has!

Martinez hardly loses a one-on-one, he is such a strong player. He plays hard but fair and just doesn’t seem to know the word ‘pain’. I’ve never seen him in pain, not after a collision, not after a tackle, not after… anything! He gets up and goes again! Besides this, he’s also technically skilled. He can pass a ball and doesn’t hand the ball off to a team-mate as soon as he can to ‘move’ the problem. He can adjust the problem and find a solution himself.

And Martinez brings quality defending. There’s of course a lot of talk about Jurrien Timber, but Martinez is just as good. Ajax started to get in trouble this season after Andre Onana needed to make his return because of injured goalkeepers, but also because Martinez missed a few games because of injury.

During the first 15 games in the Eredivisie with Martinez at the back, Ajax just conceded only two goals. And all six games in the CL group stage were won. Martinez did great and the supporters voted him Player of the Year. When you’re voted Player of the Year at Ajax, as a defender, in again a title winning season, you must have done something special to caught the eye of the supporters.

If you can get so much money for a defender… you should take it. Martinez was (recently and before) also linked to Barcelona, but when you look at the trouble over there I just can’t see how Barcelona would've been able to pay for him. But I understand why they would've wanted to, as they could have used a player like Martinez. Man Utd can also use him very well but if you want quality, you have to pay. And as Martinez was under contract until 2025, a big fee had to be paid, it’s as simple as that. That’s just how it works when you don’t lure him away soon enough and Ajax decide to renew his contract, like they did last October.

He fitted in straight away and of course Ajax/Ten Hag had to find out how Martinez could be used best, but as soon as this was clear, Martinez delivered. He played quite a lot in his first season, which is not always a given, and the ever-critical Ajax fans were also happy with his performance, but after the coronavirus break (2019/20 was never completed in The Netherlands…) something strange happened… Martinez was benched.

He was benched like… really benched. He hardly played any minutes. Not as a starter, not as a substitute. It was really strange and nobody understood what had happened. Ten Hag’s explanations were also very vague, like always…

Ajax were top in the Netherlands, but didn’t play very well and after a disappointing run the difference with PSV was only one point. In January 2021, with lots of top matches, Ajax strengthened the team with striker Haller, but also got new fighting spirit… thanks to Alvarez and Martinez!

Martinez was back like he was never gone and never ever went out of the starting 11 again. This spirit was hailed as one of the reasons Ajax suddenly bossed the Eredivisie again. And another title was won.

You should really regard Martinez as a centre-back and he can play defensive midfielder as well, but he isn’t really a full-back. He played there at Ajax shortly after his arrival and before the period when he suddenly was a substitute, Ten Hag said Martinez was a direct rival of Tagliafico for the position of left wing-back. The fans really laughed about that straight away and they were right, as was confirmed later when Martinez fought his way back in the time as a centre-back. Strange things needed to happen in a match or squad before Martinez would play full back again. I cannot even recall the last time when he really had to.

If you ask me, I can only say that Martinez is a really reliable defender. Also in the air, he is very good in the air. If you ask ten Ajax fans about his height, I think nobody realises he’s a little bit smaller than the average defender. Maybe it’s an Argentinian thing, I don’t know, but Tagliafico is also small but he reigns in the air. Tagliafico jumps very high, Martinez maybe plays a little bit more with his body, but Dutch football fans will be surprised when they look up Martinez’s height and find out he’s only 1.75m. If this will hamper him in the Premier League…it’s up to Man Utd to decide, but apparently they have enough faith it won’t.

I think Man Utd needs players like Martinez to raise their level.

Ten Hag knows how to use Martinez and extract the best from him, as long as he doesn’t regard him as a full back again or puts him on the bench for whatever unclear reason.

United can certainly use Martinez, especially as part of their ongoing renovation.