Manchester United have confirmed that Lisandro Martínez has sustained a knee ligament injury and will be out for around 8 weeks.
Having joined the Red Devils from Ajax Amsterdam in a £49m deal during the summer of 2022, the 26-year-old has established himself as an integral part of Erik ten Hag’s starting eleven.
The Argentinian played a key role in United’s quest to finish in the top-four last term. Although Ten Hag’s side wobbled a bit to achieve that following his injury absence, they eventually finished in third position.
However, Man Utd have struggled to showcase their best in the first half of this campaign amid Martinez’s injury absence. Ten Hag’s side started to return to their best in recent games following his return to action.
However, the South American sustained a fresh injury during the game against West Ham United on Sunday.
Writing on X earlier today, Argentinian journalist Gaston Edul confirmed that Martinez has picked up a sprained collateral ligament injury to his knee. The journalist also says that it is good news for Martinez that he won’t need to undergo surgery and has avoided an ACL injury – which would have ruled him out for 6-9 months.
Martinez picks up fresh injury
Manchester United have now confirmed the news on their official website, revealing that Martinez is expected to be on the sidelines ‘for at least eight weeks’.
It will obviously be a huge disappointment for United to be without Martinez for eight weeks, but ten Hag may actually be relieved given he feared he would be without the defender for much longer last night.
Amid Martinez’s absence, Casemiro, Raphael Varane and Harry Maguire will have to take extra responsibility to help Man Utd finish the season strongly having endured a tough first half.
Man Utd are currently sixth in the table with 38 points from 23 games, sitting eight points behind the fourth-placed Aston Villa. It looks tough for the Red Devils to close the gap with the fourth spot and qualify for the Champions League, however, the possibility of securing their place in the Europa League is still firmly in their grasp.
It’s going to be interesting to see how Man Utd can perform over the coming weeks amid the South American’s absence.
