Former Chelsea midfielder Joe Cole sees no future at Manchester United for Lisandro Martinez and has urged club chiefs to cut their losses on the defender during the January transfer window.

Martinez was the subject of scrutiny once again over the weekend after his ridiculous sending off in United’s 2-0 defeat to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

The Argentina international was shown a second yellow after conceding a penalty for a foolish challenge on Wesley Fofana as United’s poor run of form continued.

Martinez‘s mistake came just weeks after he publicly blasted the club’s recruitment strategy, led by sporting director Jason Wilcox, following the Champions League defeat to Atletico Madrid.

And following his latest error against Chelsea, Martinez was dropped to the bench for the visit of Roma to Old Trafford on Tuesday evening.

Cole believes that Martinez’s dismissal could well be the final straw for the Argentine at Old Trafford.

“I think it’s gone beyond a chat [with Martinez],” he said on The Dressing Room Podcast.

“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.

“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’.

“With Martinez, he’s got six months left on his contract and he’s not going to be a Manchester United player next year.

“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.

“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.”

Man Utd facing relegation scrap

United are facing a huge Premier League clash with Aston Villa this weekend, but Cole fears they could end up in a relegation scrap, based off what he saw last weekend.

The former England star added: “Having watched them, the back four or five look really all over the place.

“Quality-wise, they have it but the character of the team, they just capitulated.

“It could have been five or six [nil against Chelsea].”