Lisandro Mart\u00ednez is now considered “close” to resuming full training with the rest of the squad after eight months out with a knee injury. The centre back suffered an ACL injury in February 2025 and has been absent since.<\/p>\n
Reports from Sky Sports indicate a recent scan produced encouraging results, clearing the way for the final rehabilitation steps. Club staff are expected to act with caution given the nature of the injury and Mart\u00ednez\u2019s lengthy spell on the sidelines, but there is a possibility he could rejoin team sessions by the end of this week.<\/p>\n
If Mart\u00ednez completes those final steps, the immediate focus will shift to rebuilding fitness and match readiness. The timeline suggested in current assessments points to a return to competitive action being a matter of weeks rather than months.<\/p>\n
Ruben Amorim\u2019s 3-4-2-1 system, introduced after his appointment in November 2024, depends on depth and flexibility at centre back. Mart\u00ednez offers leadership and an aggressive, front-foot defensive style, and he is widely regarded as United\u2019s best ball-playing central defender. His prolonged absence has limited the Portuguese coach\u2019s options.<\/p>\n
In an ideal configuration Mart\u00ednez would occupy the left-sided centre back berth, with Golden Boy nominee Leny Yoro on the right. They would flank either Matthijs de Ligt or Harry Maguire in the middle. Injuries to all four players over the past year have disrupted Amorim\u2019s plans and contributed to inconsistent results.<\/p>\n
Even while unavailable for selection, Mart\u00ednez has attempted to remain integrated with the group as much as possible. United will take a measured approach to his reintroduction, prioritising long-term recovery over a hasty return to action.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Mart\u00ednez is “close” to training after eight months out; United will prioritise fitness and caution.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3813,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1083],"tags":[1073,1012,1100],"class_list":["post-3814","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-man-utd","tag-acl-injury","tag-burnley-style","tag-defence"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3814","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3814"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3814\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}