It's the morning of August 22, 2022 and Manchester United are under severe scrutiny. The mood is febrile after a poor start to the season (two heavy losses to Brighton and Brentford) – so much so more anti-Glazer protests are planned for their second home game against greatest rival, title favourites Liverpool, who hammered United 4-0 at Anfield a few months earlier.
“The other problem he’s [Erik ten Hag] got is the signing of Lisandro Martinez,” offered Jamie Carragher ahead of Man Utd Liverpool match. “We should never judge managers or players too early, but I’m convinced this can’t work because the size of him playing in a back four. He cannot play there in the Premier League.”
“We reversed the situation against Liverpool,” smiles the Argentinian, a man used to adversity, when he speaks to GQ. “Much of the team was new for those games against Brighton and Brentford.” Martinez himself had just joined after his considerable £48 million (plus £8.5 million in add ons) move from Ajax. “We were still building our connection. You can’t just arrive in a changing room and have a perfect understanding with people you’ve just met. It takes time and work.”
The Argentinian recalls that Ten Hag sat his new squad down told them we had to reverse the situation they found themselves in. “We were so determined for that Liverpool game, we started to connect better. We beat Liverpool. It was phenomenal. I also felt the connection with the fans for the first time.”
For Martinez, positives come from negatives. “I always say, when something bad happens it’s to bring something good. The football for me was a big change from Ajax. The Premier League is much more intense, more physical, the dynamic of play is different and you’re playing against the best players in the world in the best league in the world.”
The more United's season improved and a return to Champions League football seemed likely at Liverpool's expense, the more silly Carragher's claim about Martinez looked.
“Erik really wanted a left footed central defender and he liked Lisandro’s style which he knew from Ajax," one senior Manchester United source reveals to GQ. He wasn’t as tall as some of the other central defenders we looked at like Pau Torres [then of Villarreal, now Aston Villa], but he makes up for that with his aggression and his willpower to defend, plus his attacking desire and attitude are perfect.”
Fast forward to the end of last season, where United finished third, won the Carabao Cup and lost to Man City in the FA Cup final, and Lisandro ‘The Butcher’ Martinez’s status as a cult hero among United fans has already been confirmed. Within months fans were singing ‘Argentina’ and there was a huge flag of a butcher’s knife against the backdrop of an Argentina flag surfing across the Stretford End.
“It makes me feel very proud, I’m really happy to feel this love from the fans. I love my country and if they sing ‘Argentina’ it makes me feel very emotional. I was surprised to be honest because I had never been to England before and I really love the passion of the people. It’s not just Manchester United, it is every stadium. It is amazing, that passion, it is amazing to play like that. Every stadium you can feel the atmosphere and that is great for me because I want to play every game at 100%.”
The 25-year-old has come a long way from his upbringing in a modest family in Gualeguay, a town of 40,000 in Entre Rios. “It’s quite tranquil with friendly people,” explains Martinez, the son of a bricklayer. “It’s influenced by the countryside and we have a lot in common with the south of Brazil. We both drink mate. My family are still there, happy."
Martinez had played youth football from the age of five for Club Urquiza and Club Libertad in the town, but he was spotted by Newell’s Old Boys, a legendary club in Argentinian football from nearby Rosario. The move to Argentina’s third biggest city, birthplace of Lionel Messi and Che Guevara, when he was 16, was not smooth, though coach Juan Pablo Vojvoda would become a key figure in Martinez’s career.
“It was a pleasure to train Lisandro,” Vojvoda tells GQ. “After each session he stayed to improve, he asked questions, he was concerned about incorporating the concepts that I gave him as a coach for his evolution as a player. He made mistakes in games like any footballer, but we tried to correct them because it was our job to. Mistakes were normal. For example, when a crossed ball arrived in the penalty area, he had to be almost touching the player he was marking and not just looking at the ball. So, his positioning became better.” Vojvoda was the coach of Newell’s reserve team but when he took temporary charge of Newell’s first team he gave Martinez his top-flight debut.
But as soon as Newell’s hired a new head coach, Juan Manuel Llop, Martinez was dropped from the first team squad. Martinez duly went on loan to Defensa y Justica, who play at the southern end of Buenos Aires’ urban sprawl in a small stadium with three steep terraces. Only the north west of England can match it for density of professional football clubs. Ex-Arsenal player Nelson Vivas was the manager but departed after six games, to be replaced by Vojvoda.
“I was lucky to be Lisandro Martínez’s defensive partner in his first game in Defensa y Justica,” Pablo Alvarado tells GQ. “I remember that day he began to show some of his great virtues as a footballer: his aggressiveness and his passes between the lines. Lisandro was very capable of getting the ball cleanly away from defence. I was impressed by the way he handled the ball and the good long pass from him.”
In January 2017 he played for Argentina’s under 20s against Peru. A scout from Ajax was watching. Then in 2018, he had one of his best games of the season against Argentina's best club, Boca Juniors, and the same scout was watching again. “Great kicking technique and extremely versatile. He leads the field, his jumping power and speed are also excellent and he is tough as nails and plays with grit,” was the verdict.
After two full seasons at Defensa, Martinez was ready to go elsewhere. On May 17, 2019, he joined Ajax Amsterdam for a fee of €7 million – his new boss was Erik ten Hag. His first season didn’t end with Ajax as champions in the Eredivisie but Martinez did win the league twice with Ajax. In 2020-21, he won the Rinus Michels award for Ajax’s Player of the Year, which sparked interest from Arsenal but he chose United.
Martinez became a World Cup winner in December and when he returned to Buenos Aires for the mother of all parties, he says it was like being in a dream. “The happiness of the people, the faces on the people, I’ll never forget this,” he tells GQ. "The motorways were full of people when we arrived, we couldn’t make it into the centre of Buenos Aires. It was crazy. There’s a photo of my face like I’ve never seen before. Complete happiness.”
Back at United, his first season was all going well until an injury against Sevilla at Old Trafford in April. Sevilla manager Jose Luis Mendilibar, watching his side losing 2-0, rated him as United’s best player. After Martinez went off, Sevilla got two late goals. "I felt a thousand different emotions [that night]. I was carried off the pitch by two opponents, players from my country. My girlfriend was crying a lot in the dressing room. Me? I felt positive.”
Positive after a serious injury that would see you miss the rest of the season?
“I said to myself: What can I do to control this situation? Yes, it was serious. But I thought OK, this is a message. A message for me to be positive, to work, to recuperate and not just to return, but to return a much better player. And now I’m already a better player. Sometimes things happen for a reason. Football is very honest. We should have scored four goals against Sevilla, we didn’t. There’s a lesson there. We must learn and come back stronger. And I must do the same.”
He’s back, ready to challenge for more trophies, and to play Champions League football again, but like last season, this one hasn’t begun well. United narrowly scraped a 1-0 win against Wolves and lost at Spurs at the weekend. New players are being integrated, new positions too – Alejandro Garnacho hasn’t been a regular starter until now, Marcus Rashford is playing as a central striker but Martinez is confident: “I have a good feeling. There’s an incredible energy in this team, a big ambition, a strength, a hunger to win titles and taste glory. Honestly, we feel like a team and not just the players. I’m including the kit men, the doctors, the trainer and his staff. We’re fortunate to be at one of the best clubs in the world, we're conscious and thankful for that so we will work, work and then work some more.”
