Lisandro Martinez wanted to be the next Diego Maradona or Lionel Messi.
So the Argentine defender, nicknamed ‘The Butcher’ by his former team-mates at Ajax, takes exception when it’s suggested he was brought to Manchester United by Erik ten Hag just to make mincemeat of Premier League forwards. At just 5ft 9ins, it’s fair to say that Martinez’s bite is worse than his bark.
But when he was a youngster at hometown clubs Urquiza and Atletico Libertad in the city of Gualeguay, he was such a talented playmaker that he wore the No.10 shirt so coveted in football-mad South America.
