Virgil van Dijk jumps to the defence of Lisandro Martinez over height concerns, he's spot on

Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk has pushed rivalries to one side with some high praise for Manchester United centre-back Lisandro Martinez.

Since his arrival to the Premier League this summer, Martinez' 5ft 9' frame has continued to bring debate.

Speaking after United had lost their first two games of the season against Brighton and Brentford, Jamie Carragher questioned whether the Argentine would be able to play in a back four because of his height.

“We should never judge managers or players too early, but I'm convinced this can't work because the size of him playing in a back four," Carragher said on Sky Sports.

"Maybe he could go left-back, maybe he could play in a back three, but in a back four, he cannot play there in the Premier League."

Months later and another former Liverpool player, Graeme Souness, believes Martinez still isn't physical enough to succeed in the Premier League, despite his impressive start to life in England.

"That worry for me is still there," he told talkSPORT this week. "If you watch at set pieces, he's used as a blocker or on the near post. He hasn't got the physique to take on the big buys and mark them man-to-man."

But after all the criticism, a third person associated with Liverpool has backed his fellow defender.

In a recent appearance on Sky Bet's The Overlap with Gary Neville, Virgil van Dijk made his feelings clear when asked if he thinks the criticism of Martinez is rubbish.

“Yeah, you shouldn’t even mention that stuff," Van Dijk said. “Obviously it can help if you’re a bit taller but it can also not help you in certain ways.

“I think he did fantastically against us. He’s a good signing for United – very passionate, good on the ball so I can only speak positively about him.

“I have respect for what he’s achieved so far and hopefully he’ll be doing well for United but not getting success."

Image credit: Alamy

When asked if fans are wrong to criticise Martinez based on his height, Van Dijk added: “I think that in England everybody has to say something about everyone! That’s just it.

“That’s fine and you can’t change that, but he’s already showed many good performances and he shouldn’t even think about all of this other stuff.”

You can watch the full episode on YouTube below.

Another defender who recently rubbished the claims over Martinez's height is former Manchester United centre-back Jaap Stam, who predicted the comments ahead of his move.

"That was an easy one, the day when he signed for United, I had already said they will talk about his height," Stam told the Manchester Evening News.

"Over here [in England], everyone thinks as a centre-back you need to be big and tall, otherwise you won't make it.

"The thing is, you need to look at the big picture of how the manager wants to play because that's the most important thing. He wants to play dominating football, meaning you need to have players at the back who are comfortable on the ball.

"Of course, sometimes he's going to get surprised, but that's what also happens with big players - they make mistakes as well.

"Martinez shows his quality on the ball, he shows his quality when defending and his communication around him is good. He just needs to keep going."