Roy Keane has described Manchester United as a “circus” after Lisandro Martinez launched an attack on the club’s hierarchy.
The Argentine centre-back accused United of lacking ambition and questioned their summer recruitment after Tuesday night’s 2-0 Champions League defeat by Atletico Madrid.
Former United captain said the remarks were symptomatic of the “chaos” at Old Trafford.
Gary Neville added that the interview amounted to a direct attack on Martinez’s team-mates and suggested senior players would be “absolutely fuming”
Martinez aimed his criticism at director of football Jason Wilcox and the United board in an extraordinary interview with Amazon Prime. The outburst came amid the club’s worst start to a league season since 1986.
“They’re obviously not together,” Keane said of the club, speaking on The Overlap’s Stick to Football podcast. “It is chaotic there from the top to the bottom. We go there on match days and I don’t like the feeling around the club.
“It just seems chaotic – statements can reflect it. It was chaotic with how they got to (Michael) Carrick as their manager.
“We said from day one there were better options out there, and maybe the players are looking at there’s better options as players out there. It’s chaos, it’s like a circus.”
Neville and Keane shared some of Martinez’s concerns about the state of the club. However, both questioned the World Cup winner’s individual performances. They also questioned whether he had sufficient standing to make such comments.
“When Martinez says they should have brought more players in, he’s directly attacking his team-mates,” said Neville.
“If I was Bruno Fernandes and I was Harry Maguire and the other senior players, I’d be absolutely fuming with him because you’re basically saying that some of us shouldn’t be here and we should be bringing more players in. That’s what I think he’s saying.”
Martinez attempted to take the sting out of the situation in a statement issued on Instagram on Wednesday.
Sky Sports reported the 28-year-old was challenged over his comments by at least one player on the flight back from Spain. His views are said to be shared by some frustrated team-mates.
“I don’t think it will be a big falling out,” said Keane. “Because I think we’ve question marks over this dressing room anyway. I don’t think there’s enough characters, enough men in there. We know that.
“But I don’t see him as a senior player at Man United; I see him as a centre-half who’s making lots of mistakes.”
United have not publicly responded to the remarks. Martinez could face possible internal sanctions and an uncertain future.
“I thought it was really strange to have a go at Jason Wilcox, not because he’s above criticism but the budget is not going to be set by Jason Wilcox; the budget is going to be set by the owners,” said Neville.
“It was obvious they needed more defenders. He (Martinez) would probably be one of the first on the chopping block if players were actually brought in.”