Manchester United are on course to offload comfortably their worst player amid claims an agreement on personal terms with Atletico Madrid has been sealed in principle.

Whether Michael Carrick remains in employment beyond the upcoming international break may hinge entirely on the results of the next two matches.

Man Utd face red-hot Roma in the Champions League tonight, followed by Aston Villa in the Premier League at the weekend.

If Carrick is to get positive results, he can do without his own players, like Lisandro Martinez, sabotaging his side.

The Argentine has played like a pub player this season, giving goals away at will and last time out against Chelsea, giving away a penalty and picking up a red card.

Martinez has also exacerbated the pressure on his manager by publicly criticising the club. In short, he’s more of a hinderance than a help to United right now.

Martinez is in the final year of his contract and according to our colleagues over on TEAMtalk, he does not want United to trigger the one-year option in his deal.

The centre-back wants out of Old Trafford, and is playing like it too. And per a report cited by CaughtOffside, he’s now agreed personal terms with Atletico Madrid in priniciple.

The report stated: ‘EXCL: Atletico Madrid have personal terms agreed in principle with Lisandro Martinez.

’28-year-old keen on move with terms expiring in 2027. Deal advanced on player side, but no official club contact has taken place yet.

‘Defender likely to depart after recent outburst at the Metropolitano. A meeting took place in Madrid regarding potential business between parties.’

United are expected to be busy in the January window, with additions at left-back, centre-back and striker all possible.

Neville, Scholes, Butt hammer Martinez

If the consensus of many of United’s recent icons is anything to go by, Man Utd should rid themselves of Martinez at the earliest opportunity in January.

Speaking to Sky Sports after Martinez’s dire display versus Chelsea, Gary Neville said: “That’s what I expect of him; that’s what I see.

“You’ve got to respect the face he’s a World Cup winner but every time I watch him for Manchester United he’s at fault for a goal. He was at fault for two yesterday.”

“The first goal is solely on him. The midfield could have done better but Harry Maguire has to go and cover that run of Estevao and he has to just come across.

“I think he thinks Morgan Rogers is going to come back onto his right foot so he waits for him and over-covers a little bit and Rogers just goes straight through the middle of them.

“If I was giving the goals away that he’s giving away I wouldn’t be doing interviews. I would be curled up in a ball if I was playing like that for Manchester United.

“We all give goals away as defenders but the quantity of goals he gives away is remarkable.

“That defence is just nowhere near good enough and it falls apart every time it’s put under pressure.”

Speaking on The Good, The Bad and The Football podcast, Paul Scholes said: “Even when [Erik] Ten Hag first signed him, I remember Jamie Carragher’s comments.

“Look, he has been all right at times, but he is never, he is never, he is never going to be a Man Utd centre-half that’s going to be successful.

“There’s absolutely no chance, and that’s probably the full back four now. I think every fan in the world can see it now.

“I might have taken a little bit of time to see it about Martinez and Maguire maybe, but everyone apart from people who are at the club who should be trying to replace him haven’t see it, and I find that, I find that remarkable really.”

Co-host Nicky Butt added: “Performance-wise, he’s been lacking so much.

“And again, I was never the best player. I know my level, I know I had a lot of bad games, but one thing I did every time I went out was run myself into the ground. He threw it in the other day.

“He threw it in with that elbow because that was the most obvious thing anybody could do.

“And the reason he did it is because he’s not strong enough to defend properly.”

“He has got the audacity to go out onto an interview and s**g off the powers that be about buying players when he is not even playing well himself.

“And if they were going to spend money on players, he’d [ought to] be careful because he’s the first one they’d replace.”

Butt added: “If it was back in my day, he would have completely had his head ripped off.

“Everyone would have said, ‘Who do you think you are talking about me like that with the performances you’re putting in?’

“And even if you’re European Player of the Year, you still don’t talk like that about your teammates.

“He has now gone from – I have no idea why – someone that the fans loved to someone the fans loathe and want out of their football club.”