Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt tell Lisandro Martinez to mature after the defender’s fiery response to their podcast jokes about his height.
MANCHESTER United legends Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt have told defender Lisandro Martinez to “grow up” after his scathing response to their criticism.
The former United midfielders had mocked the Argentine’s height ahead of Saturday’s derby against Manchester City.
Scholes and Butt joked that City striker Erling Haaland would pick up Martinez and “run with him” during the match.
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Martinez responded with a commanding display in United’s 2-0 victory over their rivals.
The defender then challenged Scholes to come to his house to speak to him directly about the criticism.
Scholes addressed the comments on the latest episode of his podcast *The Good, The Bad and The Football*.
He praised Martinez’s performance but said he still has doubts about the 28-year-old’s long-term impact.
“It fuels people,” Scholes said of criticism. “I think we have to take a bit of the credit for Martinez’s performance on Saturday.”
“He’s had one brilliant game, but when you start talking and shouting your mouth off, this game has a habit of coming and biting you back.”
Scholes claimed he had exchanged messages with Martinez on social media and given the player his phone number.
The former England midfielder said he had “not heard anything” back from the United defender.
Butt said Martinez’s reaction to their comments raised questions about his mentality.
“It’s tongue-in-cheek, it’s obvious Haaland isn’t actually going to pick him up and run with him, it’s a figure of speech,” Butt said.
“I think when someone gets so upset about something in the media or a podcast… to come out and say, ‘Come over to my house’, grow up.”
Butt argued that dealing with criticism is part of playing for a major club like Manchester United.
“Literally, if you’re going to get so emotional about someone saying something about you, you shouldn’t be at a big football club,” he said.
“You’ll get that for the rest of your career at Man United.”
The former United midfielder insisted there was no personal issue between the pundits and the player.
“There’s no personal issue with us and Martinez, none,” Butt stated.
Scholes reiterated that Martinez needs to prove his quality over a sustained period.
“I haven’t changed my opinion yet,” Scholes said. “I’m still not sure you can win a league with him.”
“He’s got to do it over a period of time. What he did on Saturday, brilliant, but you’ve got to do it over a period of time.” – AFP
