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Edwin van der Sar says he rejected Arsenal’s bid for Lisandro Martinez
Ajax CEO Edwin van der Sar has revealed this week that he rejected a bid from Arsenal for Lisandro Martinez before selling him to Manchester United.
The Argentinian, by Luke Shaw (), was heavily linked with a move to the Gunners in the summer. A move even looked imminent at one point, but Mikel Arteta and co’s attempts proved to be unsuccessful in the end.
Edwin van der Sar says he rejected Arsenal’s bid for Lisandro Martinez
Martinez was a star for Ajax during his time there. He played 120 games for the Dutch giants and attracted interest from multiple clubs across Europe.
Manchester United, thanks to Erik Ten Hag, sealed the deal to sign the Argentinian in the summer for a fee reported to be over £56 million ().
The Red Devils are delighted with Martinez, but if things had gone Arsenal’s way, the talented Argentinian would’ve been in North London now – not Manchester.
United legend Van der Sar, who calls the shots at Ajax these days, has revealed that the Gunners did try to sign Martinez, but their attempts were met with a ‘firm no’.
The Dutchman told : “It was our opinion they (Lisandro Martinez and Antony) should stay for another year.
“We gave a firm ‘no’ to Arsenal when they came first for Lisandro; we fought hard to keep him.”
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If Van der Sar’s comments are anything to go by, Arsenal clearly were keen to sign Martinez, but they just couldn’t get it done. The Gunners signed Manchester City star Oleksandr Zinchenko instead, and he has been brilliant when he’s fit.
Martinez was heavily criticised at the start of the season. His height became a huge talking point, with pundits like Jamie Carragher saying he’s ‘convinced’ that the Argentian can never play as a centre-back in the Premier League. ()
Fast forward a couple of months now, that opinion looks silly. Martinez has been incredible for Manchester United at the back, and he’s one of the biggest reasons why they are just a point off the top four.
Arsenal shouldn’t really be regretting missing out on Martinez, but Manchester United sure are glad that they got him – albeit for a very high price.
