Former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand has predicted Premier League strikers - including Darwin Nunez - to ‘target’ Lisandro Martinez.
The Red Devils centre-back has suffered a torrid start to life at Old Trafford after arriving this summer for £57million, making his debut in the 2-1 home defeat to Brighton on the opening weekend before being bullied by Brentford in Saturday’s 4-0 humiliation.
Much has been made of the 24-year-old’s height - he stands at 5ft 9in - and Brentford’s third goal highlighted such vulnerabilities, with Ben Mee towering above the Argentinian to nod home from close range. And former Old Trafford favourite Ferdinand has claimed the likes of Nunez will be licking their lips at the prospect of challenging Martinez aerially.
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“He’s going to be a target mate, seriously,” Ferdinand told the Vibe With Five YouTube show. “I know for a fact there will be players, centre-halves, who will be going up for set-pieces, centre-forwards - Mitrovic, Nunez, Haaland, Wood, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, all of them - they’ll be sitting there going ‘oh my god, get me in the team’ there’s definitely chances there, minimum.
“I was speaking to Alan Shearer on the texts yesterday, we were talking about it, he used to lick his lips when the ball was propped up to the far post, he used to lick his lips when there was 6 ft 4” centre-halves in front of him, let alone a 5 ft 9” centre-half. Imagine what these guys are going to be thinking when they’ve got a 5 ft 9” player there, tee it up and I’ve got a run on him, they’re not even going to have to jump, bang, put him and the ball in the back of the net.
“Ben Mee, with all due respect, when have you seen him really bully a centre-half in the other teams box and put the ball in? Not often in his career you’d put him down as one of those types but he does it in the second game of the season. For the good that he’s got and how good he is, confident with the ball, tenacious etc, that element is a massive factor in the Premier League.”
Uruguayan forward Nunez might not have to wait long to test himself against the Manchester United back-line, with Liverpool travelling to Old Trafford - the site of last season’s 5-0 thrashing - next Monday. The 23-year-old has enjoyed a far better start to life in England, scoring on his Premier League debut in last weekend’s draw at Fulham to add to his Community Shield final finish.
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