It’s fair to say that Lisandro Martinez will be pleased with the start he’s made at Manchester United. Although he initially come under criticism for his performance in the 4-0 defeat by Brentford in August, it’s not taken him long to adjust to life at Old Trafford.
He has made eight appearances for Erik ten Hag's side this season - starting in seven of those matches - and has formed a solid partnership alongside Raphael Varane, with the pair keeping club captain Harry Maguire on the sidelines. Ten Hag knew all about Martinez’s quality, of course, as the Argentine made 128 appearances under him at Ajax.
Ten Hag, eager to bring a more flowing and attractive brand of football to Old Trafford, valued Martinez’s standout technical ability and physical traits, such as his pace. Despite this, there were legitimate concerns about his size as he completed his £55million transfer.
The Argentina international stands at just 5'10", which is small compared to many other top central defenders across Europe. In fact, he actually ranks among the smallest 10 per cent of central defenders in the Premier League.
It didn’t seem to be too much of an issue during his time in the Netherlands and he actually had the fourth-best aerial duel success rate (66.2 per cent) for centre-backs who played over Eredivisie 1000 minutes last season.
However, it’s largely accepted that England’s top tier is much more physical than the Netherlands’, and there were fears about how the 24-year-old would cope. But, so far, the defender has been able to translate his strong form from the Eredivisie into the Premier League with few issues.
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Although he’s come up against some tough, physical opponents, such as Leicester's Jamie Vardy, Martinez has more than held his own. That point is illustrated by the fact that he has not just maintained last season’s aerial duel success rate, but has actually bettered it, boasting an average of 70 per cent so far.
It is still early days and it remains to be seen whether he can maintain that impressive success rate as the campaign progresses, but the initial signs are very good and it’s easy to see why Ten Hag is pleased with the start Martinez has made. The player seems to be enjoying life under his Dutch boss and opened up this week about the good relationship the pair have.
Speaking to United’s in-house media, he said: "I know him very well, I know what he wants, his mentality, his style. I played with him for three years at Ajax and now it's good to be with him at this amazing club. We keep working hard and now we are ready for the big games."
