“He’s Shown His Quality…” Jaap Stam Responds To Jamie Carragher As He Addresses Criticism Of 56.7M United Signing

“He’s Shown His Quality…” Jaap Stam Responds To Jamie Carragher As He Addresses Criticism Of 56.7M United Signing

Ex-Manchester United defender Jaap Stam disagrees with Jamie Carragher’s assessment that Lisandro Martinez is too short to be a centre-half in the Premier League.

The Sky Sports pundit has doubled down on his criticism of the Argentinian defender despite his excellent performances in recent matches. Asked for his take on the player, Stam says Martinez has already proven himself in the Champions League and at international level:

“He’s a good player. I knew as soon as he arrived people in the UK would talk about his height. That can be an issue as a centre-back, not being so tall, but he’s shown his quality over here in the national team and in the Champions League. As a player, he’s very comfortable on the ball. You can see he’s trying to find these passes in between lines.”


Martinez has improved a great deal after getting off to an inauspicious start with two poor displays against Brighton and Brentford. He will, of course, have to do more in order to prove United were right to shell out £56.7m.

You do feel that having someone alongside him like Raphael Varane should help the defender settle. The Frenchman’s composure and aerial ability do compensate for Martinez’s shortcomings.

In addition to being 5f 9, the Argentine’s aggression can sometimes get him into trouble so Varane seems to be the perfect partner.

David Tully

David Tully

David has worked as a football reporter for the last fifteen years. Having started as an intern at Snack Media, he then went on to become a freelancer, working on various different sites. At the start of 2023, he took up his current role as content writer for National World's Football News Network.