Manchester United defender Lisandro Martinez is edging closer to a long-awaited return from a serious knee injury
Lisandro Martinez in the gym at Manchester United's training ground
Lisandro Martinez has responded to a Manchester United training message with his return edging closer
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Lisandro Martinez has agreed with Joshua Zirkzee's praise of Manchester United young stars who joined them in training as he continues to step up his recovery. The Argentine has been absent with a severe knee injury since February, but is expected to back in action over the coming weeks.
Given the severity of his muscular problem, Martinez has been managed carefully with his return to running on the grass coming several months ago. The 27-year-old is now back training with his teammates on a full-time basis, but the majority of those have been away from Carrington for the last ten days.
The likes of Mason Mount and Joshua Zirkzee have been alongside him though as they were not called up to represent England and the Netherlands, respectively. This meant several United academy stars were called up to first-team training.
Zirkzee and Martinez appeared to be on the winning team of their small-sided game at Carrington as the former wrote to Instagram: "Young lads made it easy for us @lisandromartinezzz." The defender later reposted that to his story with red heart and flexed arm emojis.
Lisandro Martinez responds to Joshua Zirkzee on Instagram
Lisandro Martinez responds to Joshua Zirkzee on Instagram
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If it was down to Martinez, he would have likely returned several weeks ago, but Amorim admitted before the draw with Nottingham Forest that certain things in his training plan had to be altered. He said: "He wants to go to this one, he is not going to, he is going to take time.
"He started training with us, but we had to change some things in the exercise for him, so slowly he is going to get better. He is really good. He gives us that edge in every training session."
United have mostly struggled in his absence with their ability to build up from the back and and defend aggressively heavily impacted.
Luke Shaw has also spent some time in the treatment room with Martinez over the last few months, but he is now back in the team and performing well.
Amorim appears to have found a new role for Shaw which sees him as the most aggressive of the three centre-backs, often next to Harry Maguire or Matthijs de Ligt on the left.
Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw
Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw(Image: (Photo by Michael Zemanek/Shutterstock))
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That involves him jumping out to press the No.10s looking for space between United's back three and midfield two, something he did very well in the victory over Brighton up against Georginio Rutter.
Martinez is almost certainly perfect for that role, but it could be some time before he is in it regularly with Shaw performing well and no European football at Old Trafford this season. However, United still have ten fixtures over the next six weeks which makes it likely Martinez will feature.
Benjamin Sesko, Bryan Mbeumo and Amad will all be absent for what Amorim will hope is a small period during that run with the limits of his squad set to be tested.
Those three attackers being unavailable could see Zirkzee come into the fold with the 24-year-old playing just 90 minutes of football so far this season.