Lisandro Martinez to be punished by Manchester United

Manchester United’s summer transfer window was supposed to finish the job of rebuilding Michael Carrick’s squad.

The club spent £155 million on Carlos Baleba, Andrey Santos and Youri Tielemans, but the players they wanted most never arrived.

Elliot Anderson chose Manchester City in a deal reported at £116 million, Mateus Fernandes ended up at Tottenham, and a £35 million move for Atalanta’s Ederson collapsed after a medical flagged a serious knee problem.

Newcastle’s Lewis Hall, the top target at left-back, signed a new contract instead, leaving that position unaddressed.

Six points from six league games and a 2-0 defeat in Madrid have since made those misses look costly.

Lisandro Martinez to be punished by Manchester United

Manchester United are now expected to punish Lisandro Martinez, with club sources telling The Athletic it is inevitable he will be fined for his post-match outburst at Atletico Madrid.

Several people connected to the club described his criticism of the board, and director of football Jason Wilcox in particular, as unprecedented.

“We have to bring in more players to compete,” he told Amazon Prime. “I expect more from our technical director, I have to be honest.”

He doubled down in a second interview, saying, “You can’t keep changing, changing, changing the manager.

“Last season we did everything, we created the base to create an amazing team.”

Carrick said he had not seen the interview, adding, “Straight after a game for me isn’t the time to talk about that interview because I haven’t seen it, so I can’t really comment on that.”

Wilcox was appointed technical director in April 2024 and became director of football in June 2025 after Dan Ashworth’s exit, and Ruben Amorim lost his job the day after airing his own grievances about him at Elland Road in January.

Lisandro Martinez could now find himself left out for Sunday’s return to Elland Road, a game that is already seen as crucial to Carrick’s future.

His contract expires next summer, with United holding an option on an extra year to 2028.

He is not among United’s highest earners and has wanted a new deal on improved terms since winning the World Cup in 2022, but talks never properly progressed because of his injuries.

Those injuries include a cruciate ligament tear in February 2025 that kept him out for nine months, and the thigh problem that ended his World Cup final early this summer.

Whatever the size of the fine, the bigger question is whether a player who has spoken so openly can have a future at Old Trafford.