Manchester United defender Lisandro Martinez has been on the sidelines with a serious knee injury for eight months but is now nearing a significant step on his comeback
Lisandro Martinez of Manchester United in action during a first team training session
Lisandro Martinez will soon return to full contact training(Image: Ash Donelon/Manchester United via Getty Images)
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Lisandro Martinez is poised to finally rejoin his team-mates in Manchester United training this week after his comeback was delayed slightly.
Martinez has not played for United since being injured in a 2-0 defeat by Crystal Palace on February 2, 262 days ago. He has missed 35 United games in total since then with an anterior cruciate ligament injury and has been a significant miss for Ruben Amorim.
The Argentina international has been patiently working behind the scenes at the club’s Carrington training ground and is now near a significant milestone. United had hoped that Martinez would join Amorim’s first team group last week, but that ended up not being the case.
United are keen to take a very cautious approach to reintegrating Martinez, aware that ACL injuries can be difficult. However, Martinez has been given the all clear on his knee, with scans showing that injury has fully healed and he is expected to now train with his team-mates for the first time in eight months.
Martinez is a key player for United in central defence, where Amorim also has Harry Maguire, Matthijs de Ligt, Luke Shaw, Leny Yoro and Ayden Heaven as options. His eventual return will increase competition for places in the three-man defence, where Martinez was previously favoured.
Casemiro summed up the feeling around his impending return in an interview with the club website last week. “Licha is on the final straight,” the United midfielder said. “He is a soldier who works so hard. He is always in the gym working hard. He is a machine that works so hard. He is one of those players that loves to work hard.
“It is a pleasure to have him here, he works so much. We arrived [today] at 9am and it is now 4pm and he continues working. He has the experience to know when to work hard. I will be so glad for his return. It’s not just me, everyone is happy, because he is an essential player at the club that works so hard.”
Lisandro Martinez.
Lisandro Martinez has been on the sidelines for eight months(Image: Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images)
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Martinez may have not been able to contribute in matches or on the training pitch, but he has still been around the group whenever possible. “We miss a lot Licha, especially in this moment, we miss his aggression in everything he does, we miss him,” Amorim explained last month.
“But he's always there in every meeting. In training, he sometimes finishes his and stays to watch the training. We need Licha in this team.”
United face Brighton at Old Trafford on Saturday hoping to make it three straight wins after seeing off Sunderland and Liverpool. They currently sit ninth in the Premier League table with 13 points from eight games.
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