Manchester United are hopeful that Lisandro Martinez can join his new teammates on their preseason tour in Australia after agreeing with Ajax.
After weeks of negotiations, finally the champions of the Eredivisie accepted a £46m proposal Thursday of the Red Devils and the Argentinian could be confirmed as a player of United on Friday.
Ajax rejected two previous offers from United, while Arsenal had also made multiple offers, but Martinez had always insisted he wanted to be reunited with Erik ten Hag.
The 24-year-old was left out of the Dutch club’s training on Thursday so as not to jeopardize his transfer to Old Trafford.
According to the athleticUnited are already making plans for Martinez and hope he can fly to Australia in the coming days to join the rest of the squad.
Ten Hag’s squad will play Melbourne Victory on Friday – which will come too early for Martinez to be involved – before facing Premier League clubs Crystal Palace and Aston Villa on Tuesday and Saturday respectively.
If United sign the papers in time, the Argentina international could stand a chance of being involved in one of next week’s friendlies.
After meeting with Barcelona on Wednesday, United chief executive Richard Arnold and football director John Murtough flew to Amsterdam to finalize the deal.
Negotiations had encountered several stumbling blocks in recent days and weeks, but Ajax chief Edwin van der Sar – who, of course, played for United before – would have played a crucial role in unblocking the proceedings.
Martinez also made it clear to Ajax that he wanted to move to Manchester and personally rejected Arsenal’s approach, preventing a bidding war from taking place.
Personal terms were no problem, with an agreed contract, and Martinez will be putting pen to paper soon.
His personal chief even hinted that the deal was nearing completion on Thursday, uploading an image of a ‘farewell dinner’ with the versatile defender on Instagram and asking United fans to ‘treat him well’.
Martinez will be United’s second summer signing after Tyrell Malacia, although a deal for Frenkie de Jong is proving rather complicated, despite agreeing a fee with Barcelona as the Dutchman does not want to leave the Camp Nou.
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