Lisandro Martinez: Man Utd star's aerial stats compared to PL's tallest defenders

Manchester United completed the signing of Lisandro Martinez on Wednesday afternoon.

The Argentine international has signed for the club in a £56.7m move from Ajax.

“It’s an honour to join this great football club. I’ve worked so hard to get to this moment and, now that I’m here, I’m going to push myself even further,” he told the club’s website.

“I’ve been lucky enough to be part of successful teams in my career and that’s what I want to continue at Manchester United. There will be a lot of work to get to that moment, but I firmly believe that, under this manager and coaches, and together with my new team-mates, we can do it.

“I want to thank Ajax and their fans for all the support they gave me. I had an unbelievable time there but feel the moment is right to test myself in another environment. Now I am at the perfect club to do this.”

A lot has been made of Martinez’s height.

The Argentine stands at 5 foot 9 inches tall, which is small for a centre-back.

However, despite his height, he is very good in the air.

And, when you compare his aerial stats from the 2021/22 season to the stats compiled by the Premier League’s tallest defenders, it’s clear his height won’t be an issue.

Using data provided by Opta, Squawka have compared his stats to Jannik Vestergaard (6 foot 6), Dan Burn (6 foot 6), Kristoffer Ajer (6 foot 5) and Tyrone Mings’ (6 foot 5) in the 2021/22 season.

Martinez’s won 70.18% of his aerial duels in the 2021/22 season.

Despite being nearly a foot shorter than the tallest defenders in the Premier League, that is actually higher than Vestergaard (63.64%), Burn (69.06%), Ajer (61.25%) and Mings’ (63.85%) tallies last campaign.

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