‘Licha showed he is capable of everything’

Of course, Blind knows exactly what it’s like to be a diminutive defender in English football, having played at centre-back during his four-season spell at United. 

In our latest UTD Podcast, the versatile and popular ex-Red speaks passionately about the image of defenders in England and Martinez’s top form. 

“At the moment I started playing centre-back, I think there were some critical notes about my height or my, how do you say it… I don’t look like Vidic, for example,” laughs Daley. “He looked like a warrior and he was a great defender.

“I think in England there is like this image of a centre-back and how it should be done, and how a player of the centre should be looked at in the way he is. But I think nowadays you can fill the centre in different ways.