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 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.
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