Lisandro Martínez criticises Manchester United hierarchy after Amazon Prime interview following 2-0 loss to Atlético Madrid
Lisandro Martínez criticised Manchester United’s hierarchy on Amazon Prime after United’s 2-0 defeat by Atlético Madrid on Tuesday night, saying “We’re all trying to find the guy who did this.” His comments, directed at the club’s board and specifically technical director Jason Wilcox, have drawn public rebuke from former players.
Martínez made the remarks while appearing on Amazon Prime and later attempted to clarify them in a social media post on Wednesday night. Former United players reacted on public platforms: Wayne Rooney called the intervention “Disrespectful,” Ashley Young said, “I don’t feel like he’s got the right,” and Rio Ferdinand observed on his podcast, “These things don’t end well, man.”
In his comments Martínez complained about a lack of summer investment, while United’s transfer activity that window consisted of three midfielders — Andrey Santos, Youri Tielemans and Carlos Baleba — plus a reserve goalkeeper, Karl Darlow, and no signings up front or in defence. The club pursued deals for Lewis Hall and Myles Lewis-Skelly but did not secure a defensive arrival.
Martínez suggested the absence of defensive signings was linked to an inability to sell defenders, noting there was no interest in Diogo Dalot, Noussair Mazraoui, Harry Maguire, Luke Shaw or Martínez himself; his contract is due to expire next summer. The article describes these outcomes as the product of recruitment decisions made and deals signed in previous years.
The piece attributes United’s transfer constraints and cost-cutting stance in part to actions by part-owner Jim Ratcliffe, who is described as having been “furiously cutting costs and raising ticket prices.” It says that approach follows a period when, as the article puts it, “mediocre players were signed on ridiculous money” and “failing coaches were paid to leave.”
The report also points to long-term financial extraction by the Glazers, stating more than £1bn was taken from the club during their 21 years of ownership through dividends, share sales and interest payments on purchase debt, and that Old Trafford and the Carrington training ground were neglected. The article frames Martínez’s remarks as holding the Glazers accountable for decades of what it calls avarice and mismanagement.
The column notes wider resistance within English football to scrutinising owners, citing the fallout from the Manchester City legal case as an example of that reluctance, and contrasts Martínez’s public criticism with past moments of player dissent — mentioning Ole Gunnar Solskjær in early 2005 and Cristiano Ronaldo shortly before his 2022 exit. It concludes that Martínez’s intervention, even after his clarification on Wednesday night, is “almost certainly not” going to help United win games in the short term, and that he may still be stigmatised in the coming days.