Lisandro Martínez — Scouting Profile
A football scouting profile of 21-year old Argentine and promising Ajax Amsterdam central defender, Lisandro Martínez
Lisandro Martínez signed for Ajax on July 1, 2019 for €7 million from Argentine club Defensa y Justicia. The left-sided center back has already made a good impression earning starts in four Champions League qualifiers and all three Dutch Eredivisie matches for Ajax so far this season. Manager Erik ten Hag will hope that Martínez can fill the hole in the defensive line left by former captain Matthijs de Ligt who signed for Juventus in the summer, with veteran defender Joel Veltman filling in as right-center back. Martínez is one of six new permanent signings for the Dutch club and one of a handful of Central and South American players joining the squad this season. He is also helping Ajax become a trend in Argentina!
Martínez featured in 4 matches for the Argentina U20 squad and made his full debut for the Argentina senior team in March of 2019. While he has yet to see more minutes for the national team since, he is likely to feature in the near future as he matures and proves himself on the European stage. It will surely help his transition to European football if he can play alongside his countryman, left back Nico Tagliafico. He is also joined in the defensive line by another recent signing from Argentine first division side Boca Juniors, Lisandro Magallán, who has had more difficulty finding a regular spot in the starting 11 so far this season.
Martínez played regularly for Defensa y Justicia in both the Argentine league and Copa Sudamericana fixtures before signing to Ajax this summer. In his 55 matches at Defensa y Justicia he scored 3 goals and set teammates up with 5 assists. In the same timeframe he only received one red card (a second yellow), demonstrating his ability to keep a cool head, concentrate, and avoid situations where he would put his teammates at a disadvantage by going a man down. Aside from these numbers, Martínez shines in other areas that do not go unnoticed.
Martínez looks to be a solid, consistent, ball-playing left center back. He has completed slightly less than 92% of his passes in three Eredivisie matches so far while winning a substantial number of aerial duels. He is averaging about 66 completed passes per match and has helped keep multiple clean sheets against Apoel Nicosia in Champions League qualifying, FC Emmen, as well as against VVV-Venlo in the Eredivisie before he was substituted off in the 73rd minute. The team highlights from the match vs. FC Emmen show one of his ambitious forward runs made in the 75th minute. While not being one of the largest players on the pitch, he initiated the run after bodying an FC Emmen player off the ball in his own half before advancing across the field, successfully completing a roulette-dribble past a defender, then being brought down and earning a free kick for his team.
In the video above it is easy to see the repetitive diagonal-ball from Martínez across the pitch to Ajax midfielder Hakim Ziyech sticking to the right sideline. One can also see Martínez’ willingness to quickly dribble the ball forward past the halfway line and play the ball into dangerous positions in the attacking third with a mixture of middle and long-range passes. His ability to consistently play passes of this distance with as much accuracy as he has so far this season will be something to keep an eye on as the season progresses. Especially as clubs do their homework and ten Hag develops his tactics, Martínez will likely be put under more pressure and the wide man, Hakim Ziyech in most occasions so far, might be more tightly marked.
Looking back at some of his contributions in Argentina with Defensa y Justicia, one cannot help but consider the idea of keeping Martínez as a reserve left back or the left-center defender in a three man back line if needed. Martínez should fit right in at a club like Ajax. At a club that values positional versatility as well as accurate and ambitious passing from every player on the pitch, he should stand out much like Davinson Sánchez and Matthijs de Ligt before him. Combine those attributes with his defensive solidity and ability to deal with crosses well and Ajax just might have someone to fill in for de Ligt for the time being. Keep an eye on Martínez as the Eredivisie season gets going. With his skillset, he might be moved up the pitch to fill in for a player in the midfield. He will be especially interesting to watch as Ajax take on the Champions League group stage against tougher European competitors like Chelsea, Valencia, and an improving Lille squad.
Thank you for reading! I hope to share more scouting profiles, among other articles, in the near future. If you have questions about how players like Martínez or Erling Braut Håland are signed and scouted, check out my article series! Please feel free to share your thoughts and comments with me here and via email at schmidtker8@gmail.com.
P.S. I might present this information in Spanish and/or Portuguese. If this would be of interest to any reader, please let me know!
