Lisandro Martínez will go to Manchester United and become the most expensive defender in the history of Argentine football

The race of Lisandro Martínez seems to have no roof. In a few hours his arrival at Manchester United, giant of the English Premier League, will be official, which will pay around 55 million dollars to get his services. The transfer will not only make him the most expensive defender in Argentine football history, but it will also allow him to enter the top ten of world transfers instead of him. Stupendous.

The sale, which is worth 50 million for the pass plus another five for bonuses, allows him to overcome Nicolás Otamendi – Manchester City paid him 45 million dollars in 2015 – and Cristian Romero – Juventus invested 32 million for his services in 2019 – up the podium of the most expensive passes starring the Argentine defenders. In the world, only eight other defenders cost more, even if it is far from the 90 million paid by Manchester United for Harry Maguire, who will be his partner from next season.

Born in Gualeguay, Entre Ríos, 24 years ago, Martínez was also wanted by Arsenal in London, but the insistence of Erik Ten Hag, the manager who had had him at Ajax, ended up upsetting the balance so much that has decided to sign with Rossa Diavoli. It will undoubtedly be a qualitative leap for Martínez, who is fighting for a place in defense of the Argentine national team, as the first substitute option behind Cuti Romero and Otamendi.

How Licha Martinez plays

Licha’s growth is lightning fast. Left-handed by nature, she is a timekeeper when it comes to balancing the last line of her teams and also has a unique knack for starting games, with clarity and precision to find free passes and teammates.

Some saw its height of 1.75 meters as an apparent deficit. Precisely for this reason, at the beginning of his professional career, he started as a left-back. However, as the games progressed, he showed good jumping ability – he rarely loses from the top – and he also proved to have enough physical strength to withstand attacks from attackers with a larger physical size. It is worth seeing the matches in which he scored and canceled Norwegian Erling Haaland – who will now cross him in the Manchester derby – in a duel against Borussia Dortmund. for the Champions.

All of these virtues have been heightened in his last three seasons at Ajax, where he has scored 121 games, six goals and four titles. There, in one of the Dutch giants, he not only earned a starting place last season. He was also chosen as the club’s best player.

Ten Hag, key piece

Hence Ten Hag’s insistence to take him with him to Old Trafford and force Manchester United to make the necessary offer to seduce Ajax and beat Arsenal, given that the Spanish manager Mikel Arteta had also asked him to organize the defense of the London team around him. . He will also be one of the privileged who will be able to boast of being a teammate of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo -if the Portuguese finally stays in the club-. The only bad thing is that he won’t be able to play in the Champions League this season.

Licha, who only played seven games with the Scaloni national team, came from the youth sector of Rosario’s Newell’s Old Boys. But he didn’t last long there. Before turning 20, with only one game in the First Division, he was loaned to Defense and Justice. In Florencio Varela’s club he began to show all the conditions of him, especially with Sebastián Beccacece and Juan Pablo Vojvoda as coaches.

He did so well that Defense and Justice didn’t hesitate to take advantage of the option and bought his pass for $ 725,000. A bargain considering that later, already established in the First Division as center scorer and driver of the team from the baseline, he was sold to Ajax for 7 million dollars. Now the Amsterdam team has multiplied their investment by 8.