Liverpool FC scouted Real Sociedad central defender Inigo Martinez and are interested.
The 23-year-old defender was scouted by the English Premier League at the Camp Nou on Saturday. His side lost 2-0 to Barcelona and didn’t impress individually but has had a good overall season under David Moyes.
The 23-year-old came up through the club’s youth system before moving to Sociedad’s B team in 2009. He impressed during those two years with the B team, which earned him a place in the Spanish side’s first team.
Martinez’s form in the last two years has got him the attention of Real Madrid, Manchester City and Barcelona among others.
The Spaniard carries a a 30 million buyout clause in his current contract and it will be interesting to see if the Reds will be willing to pay that kind of a sum for a young defender, after they had their hands burnt last summer in signing Dejan Lovren. Moreover, they have Tiago Ilori and Andre Wisdom – young defenders within their ranks.
Martinez- an upgrade on the Liverpool defence?
Martinez has an average of 1.8 tackles and 2.3 interceptions which is more than Martin Skrtel’s 1.1 tackles and 1.8 interceptions, is equal with Mamadou Sakho’s in 1.8 tackles but has more interceptions to the Frenchman’s 1.6. Dejan Lovren has a better per game tackle ration with 2 tackles per game, but Martinez has more interceptions to the Croatian’s 1.8 interceptions per game. Martinez also has three goals in the league, this season.
While stats are usually misused and don’t give the whole picture, it can be seen that Martinez could prove to be a worthy addition to the side. However, the central defender’s price tag will have to say a lot on whether he ends up at Merseyside or not.