ESPN pundit says Man Utd have a player who’s “one of the best” in his position in Premier League

Add as preferred source on Google

Manchester United, as a club, have always dealt in extremes and after a comeback win at Manchester City, everything is pleasant at Old Trafford.

Ruben Amorim’s big calls paid off in the game, be it dropping Alejandro Garnacho and Marcus Rashford, or picking Harry Maguire to deal with Erling Haaland.

Amad continued his rise to stardom with another virtuoso display while new signings Matthijs de Ligt, Noussair Mazraoui, and Manuel Ugarte keep impressing.

However, amid a team full of heroes, ESPN pundit Frank Leboeuf picked out someone else entirely as “one of the best” in the Premier League in his position.

Frank Leboeuf praise for Man Utd ace

As a former international centre-back for the French national team, Leboeuf knows a thing or two about defensive excellence and some of it was displayed by a Man Utd ace vs Man City.

Speaking on ESPN, Leboeuf said Lisandro Martinez, who started on the left side of Amorim’s back three, impressed him a lot.

He said Martinez is certainly “one of the best” defenders in the Premier League, if not the best, where he has competition from the likes of Ruben Dias and Virgil van Dijk.

Leboeuf said: “Well, he’s one of the best and today, I have to say, he impressed me a lot. Very calm technically, he did some very good stuff.

“I don’t know if he’s the best, let me think. Ruben Dias is pretty easy as well, and of course, Virgil van Dijk. Lisandro Martinez, if I have question marks defensively because sometimes, he loses his mind but when he has the ball, he knows what to do.”

Leboeuf’s assessment of Martinez is pretty apt because he did look a bit uncertain at times defensively against Man City but made all the difference with the ball, picking out Amad with a brilliant ball from his own half.

Lisandro Martinez’s ideal fit in Ruben Amorim’s back three

Speaking after the game, Amorim revealed that Maguire is ideal for a back three because as the middle centre-back, he can thrive on physicality and duels without engaging in a leg race with the opposition forwards.

The same can be said to an extent for Martinez in the left centre-back role because it allows him to stretch his legs in possession with the added protection of a wing-back.

That said, he has looked uncomfortable at times chasing after forwards in his channel which is something he might need help with in the future.

Still, his skills on the ball are too invaluable to leave him out, especially since he’s the only left-footed centre-back in the squad, with Jonny Evans no longer having the pace to keep up with forward runs in the channels.

Luke Shaw’s return should help him manage his minutes but at this point, relying on Shaw is a risky game which is why, as it stands, Martinez is the ideal fit for Amorim’s back three.