Manchester United and Arsenal met agents of Ajax star Lisandro Martinez in London last week
According to The Sunday Mirror [Print Edition] (h/t The Express), Manchester United and Arsenal both held a meeting with the camp of Lisandro Martinez in London last week regarding a potential move. Both English sides are battling to facilitate a transfer for the central defender this summer.
The Gunners have already made a £25million transfer bid for Martinez, which Ajax had turned down about a week ago. They have now directly met with his representatives in England, just like Man United, who are looking to make their first signing this summer.
That being said, Mikel Arteta’s side looks to be in pole position with them being in line to table an improved proposal in the coming days. Erik ten Hag is eager to reunite with the Argentine international, so the Red Devils would need to plan an offensive soon to make their case.
Can Man Utd make at least one signing in June?
It is quite baffling how we have not made even one transfer this summer despite the desperate need for it in multiple areas. In fact, one might have thought that the Manchester club would have made several additions by now, especially in their attempt to back ten Hag as part of the rebuilding process.
Martinez is among the top of our transfer shortlist, so it is difficult to see how we are allowing the North Londoners to get ahead of us right now. In fact, ten Hag has already deemed the centre-back as “starting material”, which should be enough of an assurance to target him this summer.
That being said, the Amsterdam-based club want to keep hold of Martinez, although there is a belief that he could be sold for a considerable price. The Mancunians are planning to place a £30million offer on the table for the centre-half, which is still lower than his £42million valuation.
Then again, it is thought that the Eredivisie champions would be willing to sell the 24-year-old for around £40million, which is still a large fee indeed. It remains to be seen if we would be able to convince Ajax to reduce the price tag, although that could be difficult considering how they have already lost several key players.
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The defence is one of the areas that we must reinforce ahead of the upcoming campaign looking at how we shipped in 57 goals in the previous Premier League season. The South American would be a great option to bolster our backline, but whether we can pip Arsenal or not would need to be seen.
