Why Lisandro Martinez will cost Man Utd £50k every time he plays
FT Desk
- Updated: 30 Jul 2022 10:51 BST
- 3 min read
Manchester United have already spent nearly £50m/€60m in signing Argentina centre-back Lisandro Martinez from Ajax...
Manchester United beat Arsenal to the signing of Martinez, but they have had to pay a pretty penny in order to do so.
While Martinez is delighted to reunite with his former Ajax manager Erik ten Hag at Old Trafford, United also simply outbid Arsenal, their €55m fee also accompanied by more than €10m worth of add-ons.
#MUFC have made the signing of Lisandro Martinez from Ajax 100% official! pic.twitter.com/deZeW4DYQ4
— Football Transfers (@Transfersdotcom) July 27, 2022
According to Dutch journalist Mike Verweij, the extra sum will be incredibly easy for Ajax to achieve. It is performance-based, and there are no restrictions on the amount of minutes Martinez needs to play per game.
United will need to pay Ajax €66,667 every time Martinez features - up to a maximum of 30 games per season across the duration of his five-year contract - even if he simply makes a late cameo off the bench.
Will Martinez play regularly?
That should work out at around €2m per season if Martinez become a first-team regular, as is expected.
Martinez is a left-footed centre-back whose favourite position is the same as club captain Harry Maguires - to the left of a central defensive partnership - but Ten Hag prefers his defenders to play on their natural side, so the right-footed Maguire could comfortably nudge over to accommodate Martinez.
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Martinez can also deputise at left-back or defensive midfield, but he does his best work from the heart of defence despite his relatively diminutive 5'9" frame.
Last season he was in the 99th percentile Eridivisie-wide for tackles and progressive passes - completing an average of three for the former and eight for the latter per 90 minutes played.
United also have centre-backs Raphael Varane, Victor Lindelof and Eric Bailly on the books, although Bailly has been linked with a move to Roma, where the man who signed him for United, Jose Mourinho, is coach.
