Man United will not rush Lisandro Martinez back from his metatarsal injury.
Manchester United’s injury issues this season have been extremely disruptive. Erik ten Hag has been dealing without many important players for prolonged periods, making his job much tougher. Credit to the Dutchman, who has not once moaned about the situation. That’s a good attitude to have.
Perhaps no injury problem has hit United harder than the loss of Lisandro Martinez. It’s evident now that he was/is the rock behind the defensive stability that was created last season.
The Argentine has been dealing with a metatarsal injury that dates back to April. He’d recover in time for pre-season and play a couple of Premier League games, before once again going down with the problem.
Now, Fabrizio Romano has provided another injury update on Licha Martinez, claiming that the United player’s injury is not a ‘normal problem’. It has been described as a ‘big setback’, whereas United are now ‘being very careful’ with the issue. Understandably, the club are approaching the situation with real caution.
Check out what Fabrizio Romano said in full here:
Lisandro Martínez’s injury is not a normal problem,” Romano stated on his Substack column per CaughtOffside.
“It’s a big setback for the club and so Man United staff are being very careful with the player.
“His recovery is going well and Lisandro is doing good, but he’s not ready yet and the club won’t force anything. They will keep waiting until Martínez feels 100 per cent ready to play football again.”
I remember when Wayne Rooney had a metatarsal injury and his situation was very similar. It took so much longer than you’d typically expected to recover and even when he returned, the player needed plenty of time to get back to his best. We should expect the same here.
Martinez has been a massive miss. Raphael Varane doesn’t look like the same player without him, while I’d be excited to see the Argentine begin to form a connection with Harry Maguire upon his return.
United have already suffered one major Martinez setback and it makes complete sense that they’re approaching this one with real caution. We know the defender will not be back fit until 2024, but honestly, I think it could be deep into the season. Perhaps February or even March.
It’s a personal confidence thing. Martinez should not return back to training until he feels 100% sure that there is no chance of re-aggravation. He strikes me as a tough lad who is desperately missing not being out there, so sometimes the decision to come back may have to be taken out of his hands in order to protect the player.
Coming back and being back to you best are two entirely different things. I’d fully expect Martinez to not be close to 100% peak performance until next season. Sadly, that’s just the nature of the current situation…
Do you think Lisandro Martinez will ever be able to return to his best? Let us know your thoughts in the comment box below.
