Manchester United set to bid for 24-year-old Arsenal target - Reports

Manchester United are reportedly planning to make a fresh bid for Arsenal target Lisandro Martínez. The Ajax defender is a target for both clubs and could be the subject of a tug-of-war between the two Premier League clubs.

As per journalist Mike Verweij, the Red Devils are preparing an offer for the Argentine defender. The report claims Erik ten Hag has turned his attention to Martinez after Jurrien Timber decided to snub a move to Old Trafford.

Arsenal reportedly had a bid for Martinez rejected last week. David Ornstein reported on The Athletic that the Dutch champions were unwilling to accept the €30 million offered for their center-back and rejected their advancements.

The 24-year-old is keen on joining the Gunners as per The Athletic, but Manchester United are willing to fight for his signature.

Arsenal target Lisandro Martínez to replace Harry Maguire at Manchester United?

Harry Maguire's position in the Manchester United first team continues to be a point of debate as United look for a central-defensive signing.

Ralf Ranick was asked about the Englishman's situation and whether he would be stripped of the captaincy in one of his press conferences while in charge of United. The former interim manager refused to make a decision and left it to Ten Hag to decide. He said (via Metro):

"Again, I understand your question, but again I think it doesn't make sense because you don't know which kind of players will be here, what the group will look like. I can only tell what I have done in the past when I was the head coach or the manager, because in Germany it's called 'match kapitan', so the captain of the team.

"I strongly believe that the captain should be elected by the team because he's called the team manager, and we always did that. We always had a board of four or five players, we called it the 'spielkapitan', elected by the players, the player with the highest amount of votes was the team captain at the end. That's how I did it, I know that not a lot of head coaches do it that way."

Raphael Varane and Victor Lindelof usually play as the right center-back, thus Martínez joining could see them replace Maguire in the first team if at all the move goes through.