JAMIE CARRAGHER has apologised for his misjudgement of Manchester United star Lisandro Martinez at the start of the season.
The Sky Sports pundit took aim at Martinez back in August, claiming he was too short for the Premier League and would struggle to perform.
This came following his side’s horrendous start to the campaign as they lost 4-0 to Brentford.
Carragher sat down with Red Devils legend Gary Neville on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football to discuss their end of season awards and the former Liverpool man swallowed his pride to apologise to Martinez for his early criticism.
Awarding Martinez his ‘Surprise of the Season’ award, Carragher said: “Every player has weaknesses, whatever that may be. Whether it’s physically, technically, and the best players hide their weaknesses.
“We’ve all got them, no one’s the perfect player and I just looked at that and thought ‘how can you overcome that [his height] in the Premier League’
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“I mean I wasn’t the tallest centre back and I used to go into games worried I was going to get found out and bullied in the air. Sometimes you lose big challenges for big goals. I thought he’s two or three inches shorter than me.
“But I think, when you’re talking about the role of Casemiro, I think it’s a massive drop off in the Manchester United team when Martinez isn’t in. Defensively but also his ability on the ball when playing out from the back.
“He’s a warrior, he’s a leader, and when you think of that spine of the team, him and Casemiro have made a huge difference.
“So, apologies Lisandro and all Man Utd fans, if you can stop tweeting me about Lisandro Martinez that would be great.”
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Martinez has had a terrific campaign for United and Argentina.
The feisty centre-back won the World Cup with his country earlier in the season and has already picked up domestic silverware with the Carabao Cup in February.
He will have the chance to put the cherry on top of his season at Wembley in June when the Red Devils take on their noisy neighbours Manchester City in the FA Cup final.
United have also all but guaranteed Champions League football at Old Trafford next season with only a point needed from their remaining two games to return to Europe’s elite.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
