Lisandro Martinez hasn’t made any difference — Jamie Carragher

Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher has responded to a Manchester United fan who praised the performances of Lisandro Martinez, stating that Martinez is not the best centre-back in the Premier League. Carragher had previously criticized the 25-year-old Argentinean international in August 2022, claiming he was too small to play in the defensive backline of a Premier League team.

Mark Goldbridge, presenter of Manchester United fan channel United Stand, took to Twitter to dispute Carragher’s comments and hailed Martinez as the best centre-back in the league. Goldbridge tweeted, “I genuinely wouldn’t take much notice of @Carra23 opinion on [centre-backs]. He told everyone Martinez would flop without watching him because he was small. Martinez [is] currently the best CB in the league on [his] debut season. Sit down.”

Carragher responded to Goldbridge’s comment, pointing out that Manchester United’s defensive pairing of Harry Maguire and Victor Lindelöf in the 2019/20 season had conceded just one less goal than Martinez and Raphaël Varane had this season, with nine games remaining.

Carragher did not retract his earlier statement about Martinez, but he did defend Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk, claiming he is one of the best centre-backs of all time. Carragher tweeted, “[Virgil van Dijk] is far better than [Nemanja] Vidic, who was a top CB, but have you forgotten his performances against [Fernando] Torres… No CB in the [Premier League] era has ever had VVD’s impact on a team.”

Carragher further backed up his point in a subsequent tweet, stating, “Never mind the best CB in the league, he’s been the best player in the league along with [Kevin De Bruyne] for four years before this one. We have never spoken about other CBs being the best player before, that shows the level he was at.”

Martinez, who stands at 5ft 9in, is one of the smallest centre-backs in the league, but the Manchester United fan believes his height is not a hindrance. Martinez will hope to prove Carragher wrong in United’s Europa League clash against Sevilla, while Van Dijk will want to live up to expectations in Liverpool’s upcoming game against Leeds.