Lisandro Martinez has turned the spotlight on Manchester United’s leadership structure after the club’s 2-0 Champions League defeat by Atletico Madrid, saying he expects more from the club’s technical director — an unmistakable reference to director of football Jason Wilcox.
Working as a post-match interviewer for US broadcaster CBS, legendary former United goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel tried on four separate occasions to steer Martinez away from discussing his club’s summer transfer window. Each time the Argentina defender refused to be deflected. “We don’t have the best squad at the moment compared to other top teams,” Martinez said. “I’m not going to close my mouth. We need more ambition. If we don’t say the truth, nothing will change.”
Martinez’s argument is one that was being made inside the club during the summer, when dressing room sources indicated United needed to sign more players than the three who eventually arrived — Andrey Santos, Youri Tielemans and Carlos Baleba — and that it was “fairly obvious” where the additions were required: left-back and striker. Another source with extensive knowledge of the inner workings at Old Trafford describes the current situation as “a mess”.
It is almost 10 months since Wilcox was last in the line of fire. Ruben Amorim delivered an explosive post-match news conference at Leeds after learning that United’s director of football had subtly advised him to change tactics for the previous game against Wolves. “I will do my job and every department, the scouting department, the sporting director, needs to do theirs,” Amorim said. Less than 24 hours later he was sacked, and attention focused on the part Wilcox had played in it.
This time, there is no suggestion Wilcox is going anywhere. United sources say the 55-year-old is not in any danger of losing his job. The recruitment department is already working on potential January targets, with an acceptance inside the club that the strategy of not signing left-back competition for Luke Shaw, or striking support for Benjamin Sesko, was flawed. Both players have missed matches already this season, and Sesko is sidelined for an indefinite period after a recurrence of the shin issue that flared up in May and prevented him from playing any part in United’s pre-season matches.
There is also the question of why Martinez chose this moment to speak. His contract expires at the end of the season, although United hold an option to extend it by a further year. By being so outspoken against senior figures, he raises the possibility that he is trying to ensure that option is not triggered, allowing him to leave for nothing in the summer or for a reduced fee in January. Martinez is a close friend of Atletico Madrid defender Cristian Romero, and the two international team-mates spoke after the game; Romero was similarly forceful against the Tottenham hierarchy last season.
Internally, the comments create a problem. Carrick deflected questions about the outburst in the immediate aftermath of the defeat but will face more probing when he speaks to the media before Sunday’s trip to Leeds, and any players lined up to talk around the Elland Road fixture will be quizzed in the same way. Tielemans, asked about it by Amazon Prime, replied with a “no comment” — and given the remarks about recruitment, he would be within his rights to ask Martinez outright whether he was the target. Carrick must manage a delicate dressing-room dynamic at a point when he needs a collective focus on winning enough matches to keep his job, having gone five games without a win. Sources who know him well are adamant there is no better person to handle the turmoil, and that his innate calmness is a major strength in a crisis.
Wilcox keeps a deliberately low public profile. In other major footballing countries on the continent, sporting and technical directors are expected to speak to the media; in England there is no such expectation. His only extensive interview since being appointed in April 2024 came through United’s in-house media, and a couple of answers stood out. “I am a coach at heart,” said the former Blackburn Rovers and Leeds United winger, who spent several years working in coaching at Manchester City’s academy. “I am a coach inside, even though I know I have a different job now. That is a strength in my role, but it also causes me a bit of a problem because I always want to interfere in what the managers are doing.” On handling stress, he added: “My wife will know when I am bogged down with frustration. When I re-energise, I do it on my own. Me and the dog, walking.”
He has spoken briefly to the media after matches only a couple of times — after the 2-1 win at Crystal Palace last November, when he told journalists to “trust the process”, and again in Gothenburg after the pre-season meeting with Paris Saint-Germain, when he enthused about the potential pairing of Tielemans and captain Bruno Fernandes. Former United sporting director Dan Ashworth addressed the media once during his five months at the club, sitting alongside chief executive Omar Berrada.
Recruitment was widely praised in summer 2025, when Senne Lammens was signed ahead of Emi Martinez, Amorim’s preference, while Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo and Sesko reinvigorated United’s attack. The jury is out on the players acquired in this year’s £155m summer outlay, however: Baleba missed the first six weeks of the season with injury, Santos has been an unused substitute in the last three Premier League games, and Tielemans’ form has been patchy. Sources have questioned the overall strategy — specifically why Tielemans, who has a similar profile to England international Kobbie Mainoo, was signed even at £35m, and whether the £50m committed to Santos would have been better spent on a player who would be a first choice.
Beyond the sporting department, trust is eroding among United supporters over the Ineos minority ownership agreed on Christmas Eve in 2023. Fans may look at the other clubs where Ineos have an influence: Nice are ninth in the French league and Lausanne-Sport are bottom in Switzerland, which does not generate a sense of a wider footballing vision paying dividends. At Old Trafford, questions are being asked for the third season in a row about managers who were backed by the hierarchy in the summer — Erik ten Hag was sacked after nine Premier League games in 2024, and Amorim went after 20 matches last season. Minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe has also been blamed by fans for increasing ticket prices and for launching what the club described as a ticket touting investigation among season ticket holders, but which supporters felt was an attempt to drive them out in favour of ‘tourist’ supporters. In United’s latest set of accounts, overall debt stood at £1.1bn, with some fans criticising the decision to spend £63.5m on land for a new 100,000-capacity stadium — set to cost in excess of £2bn — rather than using the money to strengthen Carrick’s squad.