"People talking about Lisandro Martínez and his height are talking absolute rubbish" - Liverpool superstar jumps to the defense of Manchester United new signing

Liverpool centre-back Virgil van Dijk recently defended Manchester United's Lisandro Martinez, who has come in for criticism due to his height.

Martinez made a high-profile move from Ajax to United at the start of the season for around £57 million, including add-ons. However, many questioned the player's ability to adapt to the Premier League, describing him as too short to be a central defender. For the record, the Red Devils defender stands at 1.75m (5'9") tall.

Van Dijk, however, has refuted claims that Martinez's height determines his qualities as a player. While speaking to Gary Neville on the Overlap, Van Dijk said (via the Mirror):

“People talking about Lisandro Martínez and his height are talking absolute rubbish. It can help as a centre-back if you’re a bit taller, but what he’s done since coming to the Premier League, has been good."

"He’s a good signing for Manchester United. He’s good on the ball, he’s very passionate, so I can only speak positively about him."

Virgil van Dijk continued:

“I have respect for what he’s achieved so far, and I hope he does well at United, but that he doesn’t get successful there with winning trophies! In England, everyone loves criticizing players about everything, but that’s fine because you can’t change it."

"Lisandro has shown many good performances already, and he shouldn’t think about the outside noise around him.”

Martinez has played 17 games for the Red Devils so far this season and has managed to establish himself as a regular under manager Erik ten Hag.

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp comments on Trent Alexander-Arnold's battle with Khvicha Kvaratkhelia

Liverpool FC v SSC Napoli: Group A - UEFA Champions League

Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Trent Alexander-Arnold had a back-and-forth battle during the Reds' UEFA Champions League clash against Napoli on 2 November. The battle was quite even with the two players getting the better of each other at different junctures.

Klopp shared his take on the same as he told the media after the game (via (Liverpool's official website):

"A good player and I thought Trent played a really good game against him [Kvaratkhelia], he was really on fire, he was really in, didn’t get frustrated by one or two situations where he was second-best, stayed in the game and I liked Trent’s game tonight."