EPL We’ll keep our player – Van der Sar reveals why Ajax rejected Arsenal over Martinez. Edwin van der Sar, the sports director at Ajax, has explained why Arsenal failed in their attempt to buy defender Lisandro Martinez last summer.
He said that after making an absurd offer for the Argentine, the Dutch team did not even bother trying to negotiate with Mikel Arteta’s side.
Before focusing on Oleksandr Zinchenko, Arsenal first expressed interest in the 24-year-old center defender.
Later, Martinez relocated to Old Trafford, where he has since made a name for himself as one of the starting defenders under Erik ten Hag, his old manager at Ajax.
For about £56.7 million, he headed to Old Trafford, but everything might have been quite different had Arsenal been willing to engage in a bidding battle.
Former United goalie Van der Sar told The Athletic: “Arsenal came earlier for Lisandro, but it was a sum where we said, ‘Thank you very much for the offer, but we’d rather keep the player than start haggling.’
It was a little bit different with United. We have discussed a few things with Daley Blind and Donny van de Beek throughout the years.
