Manchester United have improved their offer to sign Ajax versatile player, Lisandro Martinez, after the first bid was rebuffed by the Eredivisie champions, The Trumpet gathered.
Martinez, who plays the central defensive position as well as the holding midfield role, is also on the radar of North London club Arsenal, inadvertently preparing to battle the Red Devils for the 24-year-old.
Reports for England reveal that United boss Erik ten Hag is interested in reuniting with Martinez, who both won the Dutch topflight league last season together.
The Red Devils earlier made an initial offer of €43m that was supposed to rise potentially to €45m, but the blunt refusal by the Jews resulted in the 2017-18 Europa league champions retracing their steps to make a better offer.
90 mins reported that Manchester United are about to present a better offer for the Argentine, who scored the second goal in the 5-0 romp of Willem II in an Eredivisie clash at Edwin van de Graaf last season.
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Further in its report, 90 mins noted that the player suddenly became the prime target of the Red Devils following the refusal of Jurrier Timber to reunite with his former boss Ten Hag in Old Trafford.
However, United are not ready for the hanky-panky game as they have, reportedly, lined up €50m to lure Martinez from Ajax to the English top-tier league.
Meanwhile, a report by Daily Mail underlined that should United sign the defender eventually, he will become the shortest centre-back in the English Premier League.
The English media outlet mentioned that the diminutive player will have a lot of strikers to contend with that are about six inches taller than him. Bournemouth’s striker, Kieffer Moore and Manchester City newbie, Erling Haaland are examples of giant strikers that will definitely be the nightmare of the Argentine.
Former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand explained that a height difference can be of a great disadvantage to a defender.
Ferdinand said on his ‘Five Youtube Channel’, “You’ve got to be ready physically to play against these big strikers.
“[Darwin] Nunez and [Erling] Haaland have just gone into the big teams at Liverpool and Man City. They are over six feet; he is going to have to deal with people like that regularly.
“Chris Wood at Newcastle, these are big, big guys, you can go through the league and find players of this ilk. Will he be able to deal with people like that because physically, he’s on the smaller side for a centre half,” the former United player added.
No one knows why Erik ten Hag is very interested in a supposedly diminutive defender in the EPL but a report reveals that the Dutch coach needs a versatile player, who can play in two or more roles, in the United squad.
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