Ruben Amorim is said to be harbouring ‘doubts’ over Lisandro Martinez’s fitness record, which could lead to the Argentine being sold before his contract is up.
As things stand, Manchester United’s No.6 has around 19 months remaining on his terms at Old Trafford, plus the option of an additional season.
However, Amorim hasn’t been able to make use of Martinez since the start of February, when he tore his anterior cruciate ligament and was ruled out of action for the foreseeable future.
Why Martinez’s fitness is a worry
Now eight months into his recovery, Martinez has yet to return to first-team training with his teammates at Carrington, with some reports suggesting he mightn’t feature until after the November international break.
The centre-half signed for the club in the summer of 2022 after being targeted by his former Ajax coach, Erik ten Hag, to join the Dutchman’s ranks in his maiden season in Manchester.
Since then, Martinez has accumulated only 91 appearances across all competitions, having never got through a full term without suffering at least one lengthy injury setback.
Martinez out, Jarrad Branthwaite in?
Now seemingly contemplating whether it’s worth keeping a player who earns £120,000-a-week around to spend more time in the treatment room than on the pitch, INEOS have shortlisted longstanding target Jarrad Branthwaite as a potential replacement for Martinez.
The Mirror claims both United and arch-rivals Liverpool, who meet for their first encounter of 2025/2026 when club action resumes on October 19, are both in hot pursuit of the Everton stalwart.
Branthwaite, 23, has been linked with an Old Trafford switch on numerous occasions – most notably last year, when United had two bids rejected by the Toffees.
United offered an initial £35 million for the England star’s services and, when that was swiftly rebuffed, returned with an improved proposal of £45 million, which was also declined.
They then opted to turn their attention elsewhere, shelling out a whopping £52.1m to sign highly-rated prospect Leny Yoro from Lille, as well as £43m for the experienced Matthijs de Ligt.
Perish the thought of Martinez being replaced, especially with Branthwaite, of whom I don’t have that high an opinion despite the hype.
I think we fans have all seen what a difference Licha makes to the side when he plays. He’s a solid defender, has good distribution skills and, IMHO, fits Amorim’s system as LCB fairly well. He also lifts the dressing room. I hope for his continued recovery and return to playing soon.
This ‘news’ is probably an unreliable rumour, but if true, and considered alongside other rumours about Mainoo, Zirkzee and even Bruno leaving, then the question arises about what impact Amorim is having at Man Utd.
Amorim is an improvement over Ten Hag and is tackling, successfully, a range of long-term problems at Man Utd. I think he should be given more time. However, that should not be at the expense of losing so many good players, though I might be more comfortable with losing Zirkzee on the basis of ‘fit’ despite his impressive technical skills.
Half of Man Utd’s first team of last season were underperforming and/or had poor attitude and not all are yet gone. But if the manager requires much of the other half, consisting of good players, also should be replaced, then doesn’t that mean the manager is too radical for the club regardless of his talent?