Joe Cole believes Lisandro Martinez has no future at Manchester United and has urged manager Michael Carrick to sell the defender in the January transfer window.
Martinez came under scrutiny at the weekend after being sent off in United's 2-0 defeat to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. The Argentine defender received a second yellow card after conceding a penalty for a challenge on Wesley Fofana, extending United's winless run to nine matches in all competitions.
Cole: Martinez has 'gone beyond a chat'
Speaking on The Dressing Room Podcast, Cole said: 'I think it's gone beyond a chat [with Martinez]. You look at the remnants of the last two weeks: Martinez blaming everyone else and then performing like that; Bruno Fernandes questioning the manager's tactics and then getting dropped.'
Cole added: 'If I was Michael Carrick, you've got nothing to lose, I'd say to the board, "Come down to the training ground, I want you there because we have to be a united front. Until you sack me, we have to go to deal with all this".'
Contract situation and January exit
Martinez's error comes weeks after he publicly criticised the club's recruitment strategy following the Champions League defeat to Atletico Madrid. Cole believes the dismissal could be the final straw for the Argentine at Old Trafford.
'With Martinez, he's got six months left on his contract and he's not going to be a Manchester United player next year,' Cole said. 'He's clearly a talented footballer – you don't win what he's won in the game internationally [if you're not], but United just isn't his home. He needs to move on.'
Cole concluded: 'It doesn't need to be nasty or aggressive but it hasn't worked out so I'd try and get him out in January.'
Relegation battle concerns
United sit just two points ahead of bottom-of-the-table Sunderland, and Cole believes the Red Devils are firmly in a relegation battle based on last weekend's performance.
'Having watched them, the back four or five look really all over the place,' he said. 'Quality-wise, they have it but the character of the team, they just capitulated. It could have been five or six [nil against Chelsea].'
United return to league action on Sunday, when they host Aston Villa, who have lost just one of their last ten matches in all competitions.
