Lisandro Martinez | Man Utd player - Contract till 2027, with the option to extend for a further year

Assuming the visa gets sorted then welcome Linsandro! Personally, a little more skeptical about this signing, it’s a lot of money for a player who may find playing against premier league strikers problematic in his first year here.

But I understand the premise of the signing. He is aggressive, vocal, comfortable in possession and slots in that LCB position. I hope ETH knows what he’s doing with this one.
 
His price would've been higher if he was playing in a bigger league. We got robbed for Maguire and Wan Bissaka, but not for this lad who is a superb footballer.

People are going to be very surprised when they watch him.

The guy is consistent and is underrated.
 
Good stuff.

Remember reading the below bid of random analysis of ETH's Ajax and being concerned in terms of how our CBs would cope with the demands placed on them. This signing helps, a lot.

When pressed from goal-kicks, Ajax utilised vertical decoy runs from their centrebacks to open passing lanes directly from the keeper. Ajax could play out – or at least play to areas of lower risk despite sticking to their principles. The degree of tactical complexity that the centrebacks must be aware of is rare – centrebacks do not usually move ahead of play in this regard, as they’re typically the most important constituents of rest defence (rest defence = predictive defending in possession).

Even from a throw in, we can see how aggressive Martinez is at occupying vacated space, making himself an option. This occurred despite causing him and Timber (the centreback pair) to stagger to quite a severe degree. It *appears* high risk.

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Furthermore, in settled build-up, Martinez was often found vacating his post in centreback entirely. It may be a stretch to call him a centreback in this regard, because of how much conviction he’d stagger the lines with.

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Alvarez, one of the deep midfielders actually dis-marked to receive deep in this scenario. Martinez is still seen staggering the lines. This is a vertical rotation as such: the CB advancing and the CM dropping in. Blind (out of shot) has dropped narrow to aid rest defence.

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These vertical counter-movements are typically seen further up the pitch, when looking to progress (and sometimes force) play. Seeing it executed with such regularity in deep positions in build-up is unconventional.
 
Decent singing. Again strange in that we have signed 3 players and none are for sure starters.

Time will tell on that front.

Fee is crazy though
 
Guy is basically my exact size, and I can tell you all, I wouldn't make it in the EPL.
 
I've been burnt by too many mediocre centre backs over the last 10 years to even think about getting excited about this.

Hopefully he is the one.
 
He won't be. Because he'll play in midfield.

Then I would wonder why we've bought someone who hasn't played in midfield for something like 3 years to play in midfield instead of an actual midfielder... but in ETH we trust.
 
Jumping the gun a bit with this one, we generally close the TF thread and open the UF one when he has actually started signed. This is pending work permit which should be ok but Tories..

@roonster09
 
That’s a lot of money for a center back only a season after spending on Varane and a fortune on Maguire prior to it. I seriously hope Ten Hag is right in this one.
 
Great to get this lad across the line, hopefully he'll play a big part in what EtH is building here.
 
It's a big fee but then it's worth remembering that the likes of Ben White cost £52m; I guess with context it's not so bad :wenger:
That's not really context, it's just one other massively overpriced signing.

The context is we've paid 55m for a defender from the Dutch league that's yet to become an established international. It's a lot of money but I've got a feeling it will either be massively justified or a massive flop. I don't see this guy being nondescript.
 
Why are people so sure he wont play DM? I hope they ask ETH this very quickly.

ETH said it himself that Martinez isn't a midfielder because he doesn't have the stamina for it. Hence why he plays CB for 2 or 3 years now.

Not sure why people can't wrap their heads around this.
 
Yeah given United announced it on twitter I feel like it's fine to have it on the United forum.

Excited to see him. Reckon he'll be a great signing. Only 24 too.