Erik ten Hag labelled Lisandro Martinez a ‘warrior’ as he explained the key attributes of Manchester United’s new signing.
Martinez became United’s third signing of the summer following the arrivals of Tyrell Malacia and Christian Eriksen.
READ MORE: Hillsborough, the Big Five and a Football League power grab: How the Premier League was born
The Argentina international has been the subject of much speculation over the last month or two with Arsenal originally looking like favourites to complete his signature.
But United and Ajax have agreed a transfer fee of £46.8million, rising to £55.3m, for the 24-year-old, who will sign a five-year contract, pending personal terms and visa requirements.
Ten Hag, who worked with Martinez in his time with the Dutch giants, hailed the aggressiveness of the defender and his skill on the ball, admitting him being left-footed was also key to the deal.
“He’s a warrior and I think the fans will admire him. He has an attitude, fighting spirit,” Ten Hag said. “He brings aggressiveness in the game, in a good way. I think we need that. But also, he’s also skilful and he can deal with the ball and he’s left-footed.”
“I think it’s important, yeah,” the manager continued when asked if already being familiar with his methods will help Martinez adapt to the Premier League. “I think the Premier League is high intensity, lots of challenges. We need such players [with fighting spirit].
“Certain ideas, he knows them. That is an advantage, clearly. But also he has to adapt, to a new country, a new club, new team-mates. So also a lot of things will be different.”
Ten Hag also explained why Martinez and fellow new arrival Eriksen won’t be meeting up with their new teammates for the remainder of their pre-season tour in Australia.
“Unfortunately we cannot have them here in the tour,” he said. “Because at the moment they arrive here we will fly back. So that doesn’t make sense.
“We cannot wait to involve them in our squad and the fans also cannot wait. Every year it’s the same as a trainer: you want your squad complete as soon as possible. But also fans look forward to new players and what is the squad and what they can contribute and they want an identification.”
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Football365…