Roy Keane has described Lisandro Martinez as the type of defender every player wants to have in their team and hailed his mentality and “character”.
Strapped in a headband following a head clash at Crystal Palace seven days ago, the Argentina star was named man of the match in the League Cup semi-final first leg against Nottingham Forest after keeping his 11th clean sheet of the season on Wednesday evening.
Martinez has impressed since coming through the Old Trafford doors during the summer and achieved his career highlight last month after lifting the World Cup in Qatar. He is often greeted with chants of ‘Argentina’ after becoming a fan favourite with the United faithful and Keane has also given him his nod of approval.
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Speaking after the game on Sky Sports, Keane outlined why he rates the centre-half so highly. “Obviously the manager has worked with him [Martinez] so we talk about that character, that desire, we’ve seen already the benefits of having that at the club over the last few months,” he said.
“He wants to defend and he looks the right character - the kind of lad you want to be in the trenches with. We saw tonight United got a goal towards the end but he still wants to defend. It’s important to score the three goals but from a defender’s point of view he’ll be delighted with a clean sheet.”
While praising the “pride” in his defensive efforts, Keane also made sure to note his abilities on the ball too. He added: “Excellent player, comes across as a really good character, gives them good balance.
“We talk about modern defenders and how good they have to be on the ball, but he looks as if his priority is defending. When he does get on the ball he’s neat and tidy as we’ve seen, he can see a pass, but he’s got pride in his defending which is great to see.
“Because again, a lot of the time with modern defenders it’s about what they do in possession, but he wants to defend and he’s got real pride in it.”
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