Man United dressing room make their stance clear after explosive Martinez rant

Manchester United’s problems appear to be spreading beyond the pitch, with senior players reportedly sharing Lisandro Martinez’s frustration with the club’s hierarchy.

Martinez publicly criticised United’s recruitment strategy after the 2-0 Champions League defeat to Atletico Madrid, and those comments now look less like an isolated outburst.

Several experienced players are said to believe the club failed to build properly on last season’s momentum, with sporting director Jason Wilcox increasingly under scrutiny.

Senior Man United players share Martinez frustration

According to talkSPORT, a number of senior Manchester United players agree with Martinez’s concerns over the club’s ambition and summer transfer business.

The feeling inside the dressing room is that United focused too heavily on midfield while leaving other obvious weaknesses untouched.

Carlos Baleba, Andrey Santos and Youri Tielemans were the three major midfield additions, with United spending around £155million in that area.

However, the squad was not strengthened significantly at full-back or centre-back, despite recurring defensive fitness issues.

That has apparently left Wilcox firmly in the firing line among some players, who feel United missed an opportunity to build on the positive second half of last season.

United’s recruitment plan now faces a serious test

The criticism is understandable, even if airing it publicly creates another problem for the club.

United’s own official summer transfer summary confirms that the headline additions were Baleba, Santos and Tielemans, while the club also brought in Karl Darlow and several younger players.

Individually, those midfield signings made sense. The issue is balance. United already had obvious concerns at left-back, right-back and in central defence, yet much of the available budget went into one department.

That decision looks worse when results are poor. Michael Carrick has now gone five games without a win, so every weakness in the squad becomes more noticeable. At the same time, the fact senior players apparently share Martinez’s frustration suggests the problems are not simply about the manager.

Wilcox and the board now need to show that there is a clear plan. Otherwise, changing Carrick would only treat one symptom of a much wider issue.