Joe Cole tells Michael Carrick to sell Man Utd star: ‘Hasn’t worked’

Joe Cole sees no future at Manchester United for Lisandro Martinez and urged Michael Carrick to sell the defender in the January transfer window.

Martinez was the subject of scrutiny once again at the weekend after his sending off in United’s 2-0 defeat to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

The Argentine defender was shown a second yellow after conceding a penalty for a sloppy challenge on Wesley Fofana as United extended their winless run to nine matches in all competitions.

Martinez’s error comes just weeks after he publicly blasted the club’s recruitment strategy following the Champions League defeat to Atletico Madrid.

And former Chelsea winger Cole believes that Martinez’s dismissal could well be the final straw for the Argentine international at Old Trafford.

‘I think it’s gone beyond a chat [with Martinez],’ he said on The Dressing Room Podcast.

‘You look at the remnants of the last two weeks: Martinez blaming everyone else and then performing like that; Bruno Fernandes questioning the manager’s tactics and then getting dropped.

‘If I was Michael Carrick, you’ve got nothing to lose, I’d say to the board, “Come down to the training ground, I want you there because we have to be a united front. Until you sack me, we have to go to deal with all this”.

‘With Martinez, he’s got six months left on his contract and he’s not going to be a Manchester United player next year.

‘He’s clearly a talented footballer – you don’t win what he’s won in the game internationally [if you’re not], but United just isn’t his home. He needs to move on.

‘It doesn’t need to be nasty or aggressive but it hasn’t worked out so I’d try and get him out in January.’

United currently sit just two points ahead of bottom-of-the-table Sunderland, and Cole believes the Red Devils are firmly in a relegation battle on the basis of last weekend’s performance.

‘Having watched them, the back four or five look really all over the place,’ he added.

‘Quality-wise, they have it but the character of the team, they just capitulated. It could have been five or six [nil against Chelsea].’

United face a tricky return to league action on Sunday, when they host an in-form Aston Villa that have lost just one of their last ten matches in all competitions.

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