Lisandro Martinez told Erik ten Hag he was moving to Arsenal over the summer in an effort to force the Manchester United manager’s hand in the transfer market.
Martinez joined United on a five-year contract in a £55million move from Ajax in July. The Argentina international played under Ten Hag for three years in Amsterdam and became the third signing of a busy window for United.
The 24-year-old centre-back has become a regular in the United team this season, playing 21 times before the break for the World Cup. His performances even led to Ten Hag dropping club captain Harry Maguire to the bench.
But the link-up between Martinez and Ten Hag might not have even happened. Arsenal were also keen on signing the versatile defender and came very close to landing him before United intervened.
Ten Hag told Dutch football magazine Voetbal International : “Whether I found it difficult to get Martinez away from Ajax? I had such a good time there, how we experienced the process together. From scratch we brought Ajax back to the European top. That project has been so dear to me.
“But Martinez himself wanted to leave Ajax anyway. If we hadn't taken him, he would have gone to Arsenal. They wanted him anyway, he was top priority there.
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“Licha called me at one point: ‘Trainer, listen, I'm leaving Ajax anyway. I can sign with Arsenal, but if you want me, I'm going to Manchester United.’
“Then I thought: I shouldn't shoot myself and United in the foot either. He really hadn't stayed in Amsterdam, that was out of the question. Then we struck and it all worked out.”
Arsenal were indeed interested in signing Martinez, but were unwilling to match Ajax’s asking price for the defender. Speaking to The Athletic last month, Ajax chief executive Edwin van der Sar said: “ Arsenal came earlier for Lisandro, but it was an amount where we said, ‘Thank you very much for the offer, but we’d rather keep the player than start negotiating’."
The Gunners ended up not signing a new centre-back and instead recalled William Saliba from his loan spell with Marseille. He has formed a solid partnership with Gabriel Magalhaes which sees them top the Premier League table after 14 matches.
Martinez made a shaky start to life at United, with his performance in their 4-1 defeat against Brentford in August drawing widespread criticism. But he improved throughout the first half of the season, forming a partnership with Raphael Varane which left Maguire on the bench at times.
Martinez is set to return to the club full of confidence following Argentina’s triumph over Varane’s France in the World Cup final. He is currently in Argentina celebrating the historic achievement and will be granted time off before reporting for duty at Carrington.
The defender made five appearances in Qatar, starting two games – the 2-0 win over Mexico in the group stages and the dramatic quarter-final win on penalties over the Netherlands.
