Roy Keane has branded Manchester United a “circus” following Lisandro Martínez‘s outburst against the club’s hierarchy.
Argentina defender Martínez accused the club of lacking ambition and questioned their summer recruitment after Tuesday night’s 2-0 Champions League defeat by Atlético Madrid.
Former United defender Gary Neville said Martínez’s comments amounted to a direct attack on his team-mates and suggested senior players would be “absolutely fuming,” while ex-captain Keane described the remarks as symptomatic of the “chaos” at Old Trafford.
“They’re obviously not together,” Keane said of the club, speaking on The Overlap’s Stick to Football podcast. “It is chaotic there from the top to the bottom. We go there on match days and I don’t like the feeling around the club.
“It just seems chaotic — statements can reflect it. It was chaotic with how they got to (Michael] Carrick as their manager.
“We said from day one there were better options out there, and maybe the players are looking at there’s better options as players out there. It’s chaos, it’s like a circus.”
Lisandro Martínez rant riles Man United legends
Martínez hit out at director of football Jason Wilcox and the United board in a caustic interview amid the club’s worst start to a league season since 1986.
Neville and Keane shared some of Martínez’s concerns about the state of the club.
However, both questioned the World Cup winner’s individual performances and whether he had sufficient standing to make such comments.
“When Martínez says they should have brought more players in, he’s directly attacking his team-mates,” said Neville.
“If I was Bruno Fernandes and I was Harry Maguire and the other senior players, I’d be absolutely fuming with him because you’re basically saying that some of us shouldn’t be here and we should be bringing more players in.
“That’s what I think he’s saying.”
Martínez attempted to take the sting out of the situation in a statement issued on Instagram on Wednesday.
“I don’t think it will be a big falling out,” said Keane. “Because I think we’ve question marks over this dressing room anyway.
“I don’t think there’s enough characters, enough men in there. We know that.
“But I don’t see him as a senior player at Man United; I see him as a centre-half who’s making lots of mistakes.”
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United have not publicly responded to the remarks but were assessing their defender’s comments before deciding whether to take disciplinary action, sources told ESPN.
“I thought it was really strange to have a go at Jason Wilcox, not because he’s above criticism but the budget is not going to be set by Jason Wilcox; the budget is going to be set by the owners,” said Neville.
“It was obvious they needed more defenders. He [Martínez] would probably be one of the first on the chopping block if players were actually brought in.”
Information from ESPN’s Rob Dawson, and the Press Association, contributed to this report.
