Manchester United’s new signing Lisandro Martinez has previously described Liverpool striker Roberto Firmino as the most difficult opponent he has faced.
Martinez has joined United for an initial fee of £46.8million , with a further £8.5m set to come in add-ons, bringing the total up to £55.3m. He has agreed to a five-year contract worth £120,000 and will become the club’s third summer signing, after Tyrell Malacia and Christian Eriksen.
The 24-year-old arrives with plenty of experience under his belt, having made 118 appearances for Ajax over the past three years. He also has seven caps for Argentina and will provide competition for places in central defence, as well as being able to play at left-back and in central midfield .
He has regularly played in the Champions League and it was in Europe’s top club competition that he came up against Firmino. Back in October 2020, Martinez was put up against Firmino, Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane in a Champions League group stage match.
Jurgen Klopp’s side came away with a 1-0 win thanks to an own goal from Nicolas Tagliafico and Firmino made a real impression on Martinez, who was still getting used to European football, having joined from Argentine side Defensa Y Justicia in the summer of 2019.
“In Europe I had to play against Firmino,” he told Ole last year when asked about the challenge of playing against a false nine. “And he is a very difficult striker to mark because he is constantly getting out of position. That generates confusion, you lose the reference... If you go looking for him, he takes you out of your position a lot. In addition, he is a player who moves very well and, on his back, with the ball, it is very difficult to take it away from him. He is very good.”
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Despite being just 5ft 10in Martinez is very good in the air, having won 70 per cent of his headers in the Eredivisie last season, the highest success rate of any player to contest more than 100. His passing is also impressive, with an average of 82.3 passes completed per 90 minutes – more than any player to play more than 10 times in last season's Eredivisie.
The Argentina international is a self-confessed stats nerd, so knows his own numbers inside out. Asked to name his favourite central defender, Martinez named himself before listing some others he takes cues from.
“After each game I look at the statistics,” he said. “How I was in the duels, how many passes I hit and how many I missed… I always try to correct mistakes. Then, of the great defenders, I look at and like Ruben Dias and [Aymeric] Laporte from [Man] City, [Presnel] Kimpembe and Marquinhos from PSG, Cuti Romero... There are many on a very good level.”
