It’s a bit of a tired cliché to refer to a player who has been out injured for a long time as ‘Like a new signing’ but it could be argued that the return of Lisandro Martinez could be exactly that for Manchester United.
Before rupturing his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in early February, it looked like Martinez was finding his feet on the left of Ruben Amorim’s three central defenders. He played a crucial role in both the draw at Anfield, where he scored the opener and in the win at Manchester City, where his pass set up Amad’s late winner.
His importance to United has already been seen on multiple occasions. His injury in the Europa League quarter final in 2023 saw the collapse of United’s season with defeat in the second leg and then in the FA Cup final. His presence in the return match the following year was picked out by Pep Guardiola as a key factor behind United’s victory. Perhaps a huge what if, is what if Martinez had been fit for last season’s Europa League final?
It would perhaps be an understatement to refer to United’s start to the season as mixed. League defeats to Arsenal, Brentford and, most painfully, Manchester City and an embarrassing League Cup exit to Grimsby have seen pressure grow on Amorim. Meanwhile, critics will argue that the three league wins have come against to newly promoted sides and a side who played most of the match with ten men.
Luke Shaw and Matthijs De Ligt have played consistently this season as part of the three central defenders, with Leny Yoro and Harry Maguire rotating around them. But none of them offer what Martinez does.
Martinez, unlike the others, is an aggressive, front footed defender whose return will help United’s backline be more that way in comparison to how it is at present. Martinez helps the defenders around him to be proactive rather than reactive.
But it’s not just defensively where Martinez can provide a boost. He’s a far more press resistant player than any of his colleagues (something Pep alluded to after the 2024 FA cup final). But he’s also comfortably one of the best ball-playing defenders in the world, we’ve seen countless examples of his passing ability and how it gets United onto the front foot.
If players get tight to him, he can turn them or drop his shoulder to get past them. But if they drop off him he has the passing range to hurt the opposition. This is something United’s current central defenders lack (at least to that level). Shaw is a decent ball carrier,as you might expected from someone who played most of his career at full and Noussair Mazraoui is also capable of beating a press and carrying the ball, but neither have Martinez’s passing range.
The return of Martinez could potentially the whole dynamic of the team, both defensively and offensively and potentially, even allow United to exert more of the control that Amorim craves.
Jonathon Kahn
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