Manchester United defender Lisandro Martinez is closing in on his return to action after a lengthy injury layoff.
Ruben Amorim has been without Manchester United’s best defender for the majority of his time as head coach due to a serious knee injury.
Lisandro Martinez last played for United in February when he suffered an ACL injury against Crystal Palace. The World Cup winner has been recovering at Carrington since pre-season, and he linked up with Argentina during the November international break.
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However, Amorim is adamant that he won’t rush Martinez back until he is ready for competitive action.
The 27-year-old was front and centre in the United training photos this afternoon, with United fans eager to see ‘The Butcher’ back in the line-up, even though the back three has been performing well without Martinez this season.
Lisandro Martinez in the gym
Photo by Ash Donelon/Manchester United via Getty Images
Ruben Amorim doesn’t see Lisandro Martinez playing in midfield
It seems crazy to think that Amorim would play in midfield after an ACL injury, but it’s still a question that was posed to the Portuguese coach on Friday afternoon.
In September, I wrote a column for this publication outlining how Martinez playing in midfield was a long shot. We find out two months on that Amorim thinks similarly as Licha is expected to come back into the back-three.
Amorim stressed that Martinez is an intelligent player who can play multiple positions, but he has no intentions of playing him in midfield unless the team finds itself in an emergency.
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“A smart intelligent football player can play in a lot of positions, but it is not the right position for him,” Amorim told reporters.
“He needs more time to work there and he is not working there but in an emergency he can play, but I am not thinking about that.
“I feel Licha is becoming close to being able to play. We need to be careful, he is going to struggle in the first minutes but he is clearly in a better position than he was two weeks ago.”
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This was Amorim’s way of totally ruling out the possibility of playing Martinez in midfield. He has preferred a back-three of Matthijs de Ligt, Leny Yoro and Luke Shaw this season.
It remains to be seen who will lose a place in the team when Martinez returns.
What did Lisandro Martinez say about playing different positions?
Martinez is the type of player who will play any role instructed by the head coach.
In 2023, when Erik ten Hag was still in charge, Martinez stressed that he would play anywhere on the pitch.
“We have many good midfielders and like I have always said in many interviews, I will play wherever the coach wants to use me,” Martinez said, as per Goal.
“I will always be available.”