“Initially, I felt like going house and crying,” stated Lisandro Martinez. It was August 2020 and, in an interview with La Nacion, the younger Argentine was recalling his arrival at Ajax a 12 months earlier.
“The primary few weeks have been horrible,” Martinez added. Coaching periods, he stated, have been “fully totally different” from what he was accustomed to in Argentina. “Completely different depth. Completely different management. Completely different passes. Completely different studying of the sport.”
Martinez, new to Europe and solely 21 on the time, discovered himself struggling to maintain up. “I am a participant who likes to have the ball, however once they performed with one or two fast touches, they killed me,” he stated. “It was unbelievable how off the tempo I used to be.”
It was unbelievable, too, how shortly he overcame these early struggles.
Martinez quickly discovered his ft amongst his new team-mates – “I started to really feel good after pre-season,” he stated – and set about fulfilling the appreciable potential Ajax had seen in him as a combative and technically gifted centre-back with Defensa y Justicia in Argentina.
Inside a number of months, a participant virtually lowered to tears by the step-up in high quality at Ajax had grow to be referred to as ‘the butcher’ by the membership’s supporters. Aggressive in his defending however measured in possession, he was already a key determine for Erik ten Hag.
Three years on, Martinez now finds himself on the centre of a tug of warfare between his previous supervisor, who has taken over at Manchester United, and Mikel Arteta at Arsenal. The Premier League beckons.
Versatility and finding out Kimmich
Martinez accomplished his €7m transfer from Defensa y Justicia to Ajax in the identical summer time Matthijs de Ligt departed for Juventus.
The Argentine was seen as a long-term substitute for the membership’s former captain at centre-back however his success in Holland, and his attractiveness to United and Arsenal, is right down to his versatility too. Martinez may also play at left-back or in central midfield.
Certainly, having began his first season at Ajax in De Ligt’s previous place, one through which he had performed the majority of his soccer as a younger participant in Argentina, he quickly discovered himself moving into the midfield function vacated by Frenkie de Jong six months earlier.
“Initially of the season we have been in search of a mind for central midfield,” stated Ten Hag on the time. “We knew Martinez had performed in central midfield, however may he do it in Ajax’s system? We tried him there and we noticed good issues.”
It’s a testomony to Martinez’s tactical intelligence that, in unfamiliar environment, and with none information of English, not to mention Dutch, he was capable of adapt to most likely probably the most demanding function within the Ajax group, dictating the play from the bottom of midfield and offering a bridge between defence and assault.
Martinez was helped by his innate technical means however his urge for food for enchancment was equally essential. Martinez, studious by nature, made a concerted effort to observe and study from different gamers who had made the transition from defence to midfield.
“The membership at all times provide you with data, however you need to do extras your self for a brand new place,” he added to La Nacion. “I watch soccer on a regular basis and I observe all gamers, in all positions, and have a look at how they transfer. I really like the main points about gamers.”
Lisandro Martinez joined Ajax from Defensa y Justicia in Argentina in 2019
One participant he watched significantly carefully was Bayern Munich’s Joshua Kimmich, who began out as a right-back earlier than being earlier than being moved into midfield with nice success beneath Pep Guardiola.
“When he performs in midfield, I just like the calmness he has and the best way he reads the sport,” stated Martinez. “A participant needs to be clever. He has to have faith, after all, however it’s a sport of choices and also you make choices along with your head.”
Martinez quickly turned referred to as an previous head on younger shoulders at Ajax and impressed over the course of that first season, beginning all however considered one of their 37 video games earlier than the Eredivisie marketing campaign was curtailed by the pandemic in March 2020.
Top no barrier in defence
The next season proved more difficult for Martinez, with Ten Hag initially preferring to make use of Ryan Gravenberch within the deep-lying midfield function and Daley Blind as his left-sided centre-back.
However after a number of months on the periphery, Martinez fought his manner again into the group, this time in central defence, the place he fashioned an efficient partnership with academy graduate Jurrien Timber.
The transfer again from midfield to centre-back required Martinez to tackle added defensive duty however taking part in deeper didn’t make him any much less influential to Ajax’s build-up play.
In truth, final season, he averaged extra passes per 90 minutes than every other Eredivisie participant, whereas solely two gamers directed extra passes ahead per 90 minutes.
These numbers underline Martinez’s means to play by opposition traces however he’s equally adept at switching the play and choosing out team-mates over longer distances. At Ajax final season, no participant averaged extra profitable lengthy passes per 90 minutes.
Returning to centre-back additionally allowed Martinez, voted Ajax’s participant of the 12 months for his function of their Eredivisie title triumph final season, to beat any doubts about his bodily suitability to the function.
Martinez stands at simply 5ft 9ins, making him small for a centre-back, a relative lack of peak which satisfied his boyhood membership Newell’s Previous Boys to permit him to affix rivals Defensa y Justicia as a younger participant again in Argentina.
“His pure place is central defence however as a result of he’s not tall, his coaches doubted him when he was attempting to win his place,” Nicolas Diez, considered one of his coaches at Defensa y Justicia, stated in an interview with El Pais quickly after his departure to Ajax.
“They have been a bit anxious in regards to the difficulty of peak,” recalled Martinez himself, “however it was one thing I by no means gave any significance.”
Lisandro Martinez in motion for Ajax within the Champions League
As an alternative, he resolved to make up for it in different methods.
Like his countryman Roberto Ayala, thought to be top-of-the-line centre-backs of his era regardless of his small stature, Martinez is deceptively sturdy within the air and boasts a formidable leap.
Final season at Ajax, he made extra headed clearances (29) than every other participant and received 79 of his 112 aerial duels, giving him a hit fee of 71 per cent and placing him second solely to Harry Maguire amongst Manchester United and Arsenal’s present centre-backs.
Martinez can count on to face extra exacting opponents within the Premier League, after all, however he’s additionally helped by a sound studying of the sport. He’s recognized for anticipating strikers’ runs and positioning himself well to make tackles and interceptions.
These qualities, coupled together with his versatility and technical prowess, have made him all of the extra alluring to Premier League suitors. Whether or not he finally ends up at Previous Trafford or the Emirates stays to be seen however Lisandro Martinez has already come a great distance.
