Paul Scholes has continued his feud with Manchester United defender Lisandro Martinez by revealing a frosty direct message exchange between the pair.
Scholes and fellow United legend Nicky Butt were critical of Martinez ahead of last weekend's Manchester derby against Manchester City.
On their The Good, The Bad & The Football podcast, Butt claimed City striker Erling Haaland would 'put Martinez on his shoulders', which saw Scholes joke that the Argentina international would be 'thrown into the net'.
United ran out 2-0 winners in interim head coach Michael Carrick's first game in charge, thanks to second-half goals from Bryan Mbeumo and Patrick Dorgu.
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Martinez put in an inspired performance against Haaland, which resulted in City boss Pep Guardiola substituting his star forward for teenager Divine Mukasa.
Following the game, Martinez was asked about Scholes' comments, to which he replied: "Honestly, he can say whatever he wants.
"I told him already, if he wants to say something to me, he can come to me wherever he wants. To my house, wherever. I don't care.
"I respect when they want to help the club because everyone can talk on the television. But when you see (them) here face-to-face, no one says anything in your face."
Scholes has since responded, admitting he was shocked by the outrage and even shared a previous heated message from Martinez.
"Look, we exchanged messages on Instagram quite some time ago," the 51-year-old admitted. "He wasn't happy with something I said about him in the past. I can't remember what it was. He said he'd lost all respect for me. I wouldn't normally say this, but he's come out and said stuff, so why not?"
Per ESPN, the club are said to be unhappy with Scholes and Butt's comments about Martinez, who recently returned from a serious knee injury.
They believe 'it was an attempt to mock Martinez', rather than offer constructive analysis during a turbulent period.
Scholes, who has been a vocal critic of Martinez's previously, gave the World Cup winner credit for his display at Old Trafford.
He said: "The point we were trying to make was physically, they are a mismatch. Possibly, we could have worded it better. I don’t know.
"It doesn’t sound brilliant when you watch it back, but as Nicky says, we are just having a laugh. You’ve got to give him credit, he was brilliant."
United are currently fifth in the Premier League, one point behind bitter rivals Liverpool. They return to action against league leaders Arsenal on Sunday.
Topics: Paul Scholes, Lisandro Martinez, Manchester United, Football, Premier League
Daniel Marland