Manchester United winger Amad Diallo has named the fastest and the toughest players within the ranks of Erik ten Hag’s Premier League giants – and his answers will come as a surprise to absolutely nobody.
Ask yourself this, would you rather square up to Marcus Rashford on a 100-metre track, or engage in a bit of Greco-Roman wrestling with Lisandro Martinez?
Amad Diallo knows from experience that keeping pace with Manchester United’s number ten, or winning a duel against their red-blooded Butcher at the back, is a lot easier said than done, even on the training pitch.
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Amad Diallo hails two Manchester United team-mates
“I think Marcus Rashford is the fastest player at Manchester United,” Amad tells the Red Devils website during a fan Q&A.
The statistics, however, tell a different story. According to the official Premier League website, the player with the top speed at Old Trafford this season is not Rashford but instead Ten Hag’s flying full-back Diogo Dalot.
The Portugal international has allegedly produced speeds akin to that of Micky van de Ven and the famously turbo-charged Adama Traore this season.
There is not quite such an straightforward way of measuring a player’s grit or ferocity, however, but you can take Amad at his word when he discusses what it’s like going head-to-head with the teak-tough Lisandro Martinez at Carrington.
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Lisandro Martinez cannot return soon enough
“Licha,” was the former Sunderland loanee’s immediate response when asked to name the toughest player he has come up against on the training pitch for Man United. “He’s very strong in the training. For him, the training is like the Champions League final.
“He never trains easy. He goes stronger, so it’s harder to train against him.”
How United could have done with a few of those attributes during successive league defeats to Fulham and Manchester City. Martinez, at least, is still proving his worth to the club, even from the treatment table.
“Lisandro Martinez helped me a lot because he was injured also,” Amad said recently of a man who finds himself facing another spell on the sidelines with knee issue he picked up in February’s 3-0 trouncing of West Ham.
“Every time, when we are at training, he spoke with me and said: ‘It’s nothing, Amad. Keep training hard’. Lisandro Martinez and Casemiro also. They are good leaders.”
Martinez, a World Cup winner in Qatar, is expected to remain out until the season’s final stages. Rashford, however, should be fit to feature against Everton on Saturday despite lasting only 70 minutes of Sunday’s Manchester derby.
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