Rio Ferdinand claims £57m Man Utd star is ‘the best in the world’ after Ipswich win

Former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand (Picture: Rio Ferdinand Presents)

Rio Ferdinand believes that Lisandro Martinez is the best ball-playing centre-back in the world after his performance in Manchester United ’s win over Ipswich.

United conceded twice against newly-promoted Ipswich, but a Bruno Fernandes hat-trick saw the Red Devils come from behind to win 5-2 at Old Trafford .

An own goal from Jacob Greaves and Bryan Mbeumo ’s well-taken lob completed the scoring for Michael Carrick ’s side, who bounced back from their opening-weekend defeat to Hull City in impressive fashion.

Carrick made four changes to his side for Sunday’s win, with Martinez making his first start of the season alongside Harry Maguire in central defence.

A mistake saw the Argentine caught in possession in added time, with Julio Enciso stealing the ball and setting up Chuba Akpom for a late consolation.

But despite that, Ferdinand was keen to rave about the 28-year-old post-match, insisting there is still no better centre-back in world football with the ball at their feet.

‘Martinez, by the way, we conceded two goals today, but what I would like to talk about is his ability on the ball,’ Ferdinand said on his YouTube channel .

Lisandro Martinez made his first start of the season (Picture: Getty)

‘I would go as far as to say Martinez is the best centre-back on the ball in the game right now.

‘I’m trying to think of someone else better who can break the line with passing, who can beat the press when someone comes to him and just move it, take the ball in tight areas; Martinez takes some beating.

‘He was phenomenal on the ball today in terms of his passing, like top tier.’

Michael Carrick’s side came from behind to win at Old Trafford (Picture: Getty)

United will look to build on their first win of the season next weekend away at Everton, but Ferdinand insisted that nobody at the club is thinking about a potential title challenge this season.

‘I can’t remember the year, but we lost to a team that was promoted [on opening day] and we won the league that year,’ he added.

‘We won the league that year! It can happen, but it ain’t going to happen this year: Arsenal are going to win the league.

‘Man United aren’t here to win the league. The people that are running the club and Michael Carrick, as much as they would like to, in there most serious thoughts they are not saying we are title challengers right now.

"He's the prince of this place!" Bruno Fernandes completes his hat-trick 🎩 pic.twitter.com/KgLlaMcKGR — Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) August 30, 2026

‘With their serious hat on, outside of press conferences and talking in public, they are not thinking that.

‘Sensible, realistic heads are thinking about a year of consolidation, a chance to finish in the Champions League [places] is a must, that’s the lowest, and if we get a trophy on top of that what a season we’ve had.

‘That’s where Man United are right now, the standards over the years have been higher than that and we’ve got to get back to that, but that takes time, it doesn’t happen overnight.’

Elsewhere, United boss Carrick was keen to praise his side’s mentality after their come-from-behind win, telling Sky Sports: ‘It was a good win. It was a really good win in the end. We played some really good football. The biggest thing today was the mentality of the boys to overcome setbacks.

‘We’re going to have them and it depends on how you deal with them. I was really pleased with that. It’s easy to look at the result but the mentality and the stubbornness really pleased me.

‘We controlled the game pretty well for the most part. A lot of our play was looking on the way to how we wanted it to look. The boys took it on really well and we were fabulous.’

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