The date is July 1, 2019, and the event is the arrival of Lisandro Martinez to Ajax from Argentina's Devenza e Justicia, for 7 million euros.

Not a small number to spend on a defender from a club that no one has ever heard of (1).

Devenca e Justicia - Defense and Justice in Spanish - is a local rival to Newell's Old Boys, the club that Maradona played for before Boca Juniors, and the club that Martinez himself played for before he abandoned him for a valid reason;

The defender who is 175 cm tall and is 20 years old is not worth wasting your time with (2).

midnight in Amsterdam

Days after he joined, it was time for his first training under Ten Hag.

The Dutch coach had hired Martinez to replace De Ligt after his departure to Juventus in the wake of Ajax's successful 2018-2019 season, but for some reason, often the same reason Newell's gave him up, he decided that he would compete with Nicolas Tagliafico, another Argentine, for the left-back position.

Lisandro Martinez of Ajax in a confrontation with Mateo Kovacic of Chelsea (Reuters)

Kevin van Nonen, Eurosport correspondent in Amsterdam, says Ajax fans laughed at the idea at first;

They never imagined Martinez as a full-back, not to mention his ability to put Taliavico on the bench, and it turned out later that they were right, and after a period of experiments, Ten Hag decided that Martinez would move to the midfield with Alvarez to replace De Jong - who in turn left for Barcelona - in the new double-axis(3 ).

“De Jong’s compensation” is not an accurate description of what happened, because the departure of the young Dutchman, and Van de Beek after him, forced Ten Hag to change the tactical drawing of the team in general, and then change the roles of the two-axis, because the loss of the blond midfield duo lost Ajax a lot of his liquidity between The lines, and forced his players into specific roles more rigid, although the fluidity and dynamism of the team in general remained the same.

At the time, Martinez would spend his nights crying after each practice;

Moving to the Dutch capital was troublesome, especially in adapting to culture, food and language, which formed a huge barrier in the beginning because Martinez did not even know a letter of English, but the biggest problem was adapting to Ajax Amsterdam football.

"The first few weeks were awful, everything was different from what I was used to in Argentina: the intensity of the game, the amount of control, the way he passed, the reading of the game."

Lisandro Martinez in an interview with the Argentine newspaper La Nacion in August 2020(2)

In Argentina, Martinez liked to keep the ball long despite being a central defender, and when he came to Ajax and found the players touching the ball once or twice at most before passing it, it was a huge problem for his style of play, not only because this deprived him of possession, but also because I can tell him how much he has fallen behind the much faster pace of matches and training in the Netherlands.

Butcher in Cruyff Square

Martinez quickly overcame the first hurdles, and felt a great improvement in his ability to match the team after the preparation period, and within a few months of starting with Ten Hag, Ajax fans were giving him his first title of his career;

"El Carnicero" or "the butcher" in his mother tongue (4).

Ajax fans here were referring to his intense enthusiasm and passion for defensive interventions, which prompted Ten Hag to rely on him as a proactive defender, usually getting out of his position to try to break the opponent's attacks before they are completed, and surprising his attackers and wings in uncomfortable positions, while receiving the ball or taming it or even before that , while his companion, Joren Timber, is often late to provide cover in case Martinez fails in his mission.

Kevin Van Nonen returns to confirm that Martinez rarely loses a defensive tackle, and most importantly, rarely feels or expresses pain, and rarely shows his frustration, but continues to try without despair, like many of his warm-blooded compatriots, who deal with matches Football as a war for survival (3).

According to the Football Reference or FBREF website, which gets its data from the global Statsbomb Foundation, which provides services to the likes of Liverpool and Manchester City, Martinez's number of interventions and his success rate put him in the best category ever. Among the defenders of the five major leagues (5).

In another long report co-authored by Laurie Whitwell, Art de Rocher, Mark Curry and others via The Athletic (6), the Smarter Scout indicator was used to measure the performance of Individual players in different aspects of the game, and their evaluation relative to their peers in the same position, and after adjusting the criteria to suit the Premier League, the Argentine butcher was in the best category (90 and above) in four of the five main defense criteria:

  • Ball Recoveries & Interceptions = 99

  • Disrupting Opposition Moves = 97

  • Defense Intensity - Defending Intensity = 98

  • Defending Impact = 78

  • Aerial Duels Quantity = 96

  • The first, that is, retrieving the ball and intercepting it, is among the principles of playing that Martinez learned in Ajax over the past three seasons. Then launch surprise attacks in the best possible position;

    While the opponent's elements are preparing to leave their positions.

    This is exactly what makes Martinez a real addition to the Manchester United defence, who only had Maguire to play this role, but his body movement technique, lack of flexibility and physical flexibility made it difficult for him to trap opponents in such situations, or rebound quickly enough if the attempt to press failed. First.

    First impressions

    The problem with this nickname, the Amsterdam Butcher, though attractive, was that it was little more than a superficial first impression of Martinez.

    The Argentine young man grew up in a family obsessed with football, his mother was a football player, from which he got his talent, as he put it, but, like many poor Latin Americans who turned to football to achieve their dreams, he was influenced by the fierce and sharp way of playing that beat the continent’s competitions. 4).

    In this atmosphere, Latinos turn all their goals, suffering, and experiences into fuel that they burn in play, and they believe that this is what sets them apart;

    They play for causes higher than their very existence, such as the desire to earn respect, or the hope of creating a better future for their children.

    "I want to win every situation, no matter the odds, because I feel like I'm fighting for a living for my children and family in every situation, for my friends. That's how I feel, and that's how all Argentines play football, it's a motivation I can't explain."

    Lisandro Martinez in an interview with The Daily Mirror, July 3, 2022(7)

    This passion is often misinterpreted;

    In the sense that his observation of a player like Martinez in the beginning is enough to classify him in one of the usual, pre-fabricated football molds that are stable in the collective consciousness of the fans of the game, including the ruthless Latin butcher, who compensates for his lack of skills with physical rush, strong tackles and fierce play.

    The truth is, of course, different.

    Indeed, Martinez's best feature of all may be that his rehab at Ajax has made him a rebel, and his hidden advantages have brought him to the fore, as if he combined the best of both worlds.

    The second criterion on the Smarter Scout indicator, the ability to disrupt and confuse the opponent's movements, shows how much tactical awareness Martinez has in the defensive stages.

    Last February, for example, “Morgan Haworth” published a comprehensive individual analysis of the Argentine’s performance with his country and Ajax on the “Total Football Analysis” platform, in which he emphasized that Martinez’s defensive contributions do not stop only at extracting balls and winning doubles, but in The truth is what is most important is the ability to prevent attacks and dangerous moves before they occur, and to anticipate them if they do occur (8).

    In the following clip, for example, from the Argentina-Colombia match, Haworth explains how Martinez noticed Luis Diaz's intention to move deep and receive the vertical ball in a dangerous position that enables him to launch and face the goal.

    Martinez's defensive shots - Source: Total Football Analysis

    With James Rodriguez ready to receive from central defender Davinson Sanchez, and heading towards the depth to pass Diaz, apparently as a pre-agreed game, Martinez's head moved to clear the situation and read the game, before he went out to anticipate the pass and end the situation.

    Martinez's defensive shots - Source: Total Football Analysis

    Martinez's defensive shots - Source: Total Football Analysis

    In another situation in the PSV-Ajax match, Martinez realizes the winger's intention to move deep to receive the pass behind Ajax's defense, leaving the closest striker to his comrade Jurien Timber, and sets out to cover the space in another proactive move.

    In both shots, Martinez managed to cut the ball and hand it to one of his teammates.

    Martinez's defensive shots - Source: Total Football Analysis

    Martinez's defensive shots - Source: Total Football Analysis

    The educated butcher

    "At the beginning of the season, we were looking for a brain in the midfield. We knew Martinez had played there before, but we weren't sure if he could do it in the Ajax system. We tried it, and what we saw was great."

    Eric Ten Hag(2)

    What makes Martinez one of the best defenders in Europe at the moment is not only his ability to read the game and intelligently deal with the coordinates and course of the situation, but also the fact that the title of the butcher never gave his talent its due, and what is meant is his artistic talent.

    All of the above was about Martinez's abilities in the defensive stages, but - surprisingly - not his best features.

    What Martinez adds to the Ten Hag system in the stages of preparation and building play is difficult to measure, simply because he is one of Europe's most pressure-resistant defenders and the ability to get rid of difficult situations.

    This is an issue that United struggled with a lot last season.

    Some have reduced it to Maguire's actions under pressure and his frequent stumbles, but in fact Maguire was not the only culprit, not even the president, because in modern football, the building patterns of playing mainly depend on the drawing determined by the coach, the positions he provides to his players, passing options and angles, etc. They only have to implement.

    Of course some of them may have the ability to get past difficult situations for individual skill or intuition, but a coach cannot rely on that all the time, and that is exactly what Martinez offers;

    Intuitive speed in difficult situations, excellent body postures that help him comfortably receive and explore passing options, the ability to overtake opponents by carrying the ball and rushing forward to break their lines, and most importantly, confuse their tactical drawing during the pressure stages.

    On the same scale, “Football Reference” specialists place it in the highest category among heart defenders on several other measures, including the number of passing attempts [99], which Ajax leads, the success rate of passes [95], and the number of forward passes [99], And the number of times the ball was carried forward [96] (5).

    In the following section, for example, the channel "Pythagoras in boots" provides a comprehensive and comprehensive snapshot of most of Martinez's skills.

    The third, that is, his longitudinal passes and his ability to transfer play from one side to the other (Switching Play), will really amaze you.

    Of course, all these numbers and statistics remain under the test, because the advantage that Ajax enjoyed with Ten Hag in the Netherlands is difficult to repeat with Manchester United in England, in light of stronger competition and experienced opponents with inexhaustible treasuries, in addition to the fact that 175 cm will become a greater obstacle in England compared to The Netherlands, but we assure you that 175 cm is worth your time.

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    Sources

    1- Lisandro Martinez - Transfermarkt

    2- Lisandro Martinez;

    The Argentine who shone with Ajax and offers brains, muscles and diversity – Sky Sports

    3- “He does not know pain!” .. What will Lisandro Martinez add to Manchester United?

    - Eurosport

    4- Lisandro Martinez to Manchester United .. Why was he called the butcher?

    – GMS

    5- Lisandro Martinez - FBREF

    6- Lisandro Martinez .. Why did Manchester United fight so hard to beat Arsenal to the Argentine defender?

    - The Athletic

    7. Lisandro Martinez's brutal nickname explains why Ten Hag wants him at Manchester United - The Daily Mirror

    8- Lisandro Martinez 2021-2022;

    The best defenders in the Dutch league?

    - Total Football Analysis