José Martínez is a 20-year-old Nicaraguan left winger who plays his senior football for Managua FC and has 4 goals in 7 caps for the U-20 national team. He made his senior club debut in 2021 but still split his time with the academy until last season, slowly etching his place in the first team sheet. After 3 goals in 12 matches during the 2024 Liga Primera Apertura, Martínez solidified himself as a regular starter by scoring 5 goals in the 2025 Clausura while playing over 1,000 league minutes for the first time.
In terms of size, he is extremely small (around 1.60 m) in both stature and frame, leaving him physically outmatched in most duels. His strength is minimal, struggling to hold off contact and losing both ground and aerial duels. On the contrary, Martínez has extremely fast straight-line speed, allowing him to stretch the flank in transition. He is quite agile with quick-twitch movement that allows him excellent change of direction skills that are hard to contain. Though he is a high motor player, he occasionally is subbed off early due to minor knocks or fatigue.
Psychologically, Martínez is quite confident, leading to some overambition in possession but giving him lots of attacking intent and creativity. Additionally, his character is of a high standard, taking responsibility for his errors.
On ball, Martínez receives particularly well in stride, helping him to exploit space in behind on the flank with his exceptional pace for the level. His first touch is consistently soft but when facing heavy pressure, especially centrally, it can be heavy. When approaching 1v1s, his dribbling shines with his agility and smart, sharp cuts, preferring to cut inside onto his right foot from wide left. At times, Martínez is overambitious in his solo actions, attempting ill-advised long-range shots after cutting inside. When linking up, he is capable of short combinations in tight areas, out wide in particular. He also has enough vision to spot runs through or to switch play, getting creative but lacking consistency in execution. Although he can provide a well-weighted pre-assist from these creative opportunities, Martínez can under hit or mistime passes when pressured. In addition, he is comfortable using his weaker left foot on short passes and crosses. Regarding crossing, Martínez delivers early and often, putting in a considerable amount from wide areas. His best technique comes when being played into space, which allows him to hit it with momentum and put less thought into the action. Though his natural quickness and capable dribbling technique are positive traits, they contrast his lack of distributive technique and lack of control. This combination suggests Martínez may thrive in a press-oriented system when joining a more competitive league.
As a finisher, Martínez continues to refine. His improvement under pressure and as a first-time finisher, both in technique and composure highlight the development he is capable of. He showed during a brace to start the 2025 Apertura that his finishing extends to both feet now, improving his placement on shots, too. This improvement in placement also has made him a bigger threat to score from free kicks. His long-range ball-striking, from open play or set pieces, has become a strength of his game.
Off ball, Martínez has become increasingly comfortable floating into central areas to combine or support play. On the counter is where he thrives, getting in behind defenders with inverted and underlapping runs or moving diagonal from the half spaces out wide. His quickness and agility allow him to shake markers with ease when going forward. Martínez can also use feints off ball to shift defenders for space to make those inverted runs or create room for teammates. His presence in the box has improved, too, being spatially aware to time runs correctly into the posts, helping him add first time finishes to his repertoire.
When pressing, he brings high energy in advanced areas, reacting quickly to loose balls and heavy touches. Martínez makes up for his lack of strength in duels by being persistent and pacy chasing in the high press. Since his positional discipline when defending deeper is poor, his primary defensive contribution is by being a pest from the front-line with his athleticism.
Martínez is a counter-attacking wide playmaker that may be physically underdeveloped but has the explosiveness, technical dribbling, and promising development signs to acclimate to a stronger league. If he can continue to improve his skills under pressure like he did his finishing, Martínez could be one of few wingers of his stature that thrive abroad. He is raw with much room for improvement like many Central American prospects, but a second full season domestically and regional competition ahead give him ample opportunity to display his talents to a wider audience and potentially earn a move.
Target Scouting 