Michael Carrick has confirmed Lisandro Mart\u00ednez will not be available for Manchester United\u2019s trip to Bournemouth on Friday, but said the Argentina international is progressing and is expected to be ready following the international break. “He\u2019s getting there,” Carrick admitted. “So after this one, I think he\u2019ll be alright.”<\/p>\n
Carrick also addressed the wider defensive injury picture, highlighting the ongoing problem with Matthijs de Ligt. The Dutch defender was first sidelined in November, and early tests suggested a short absence, but he has not been seen since and a return date remains unspecified. “It\u2019s [a] similar [situation] really and frustrating for Matta,” Carrick continued. “He\u2019s obviously trying to work to get back but it\u2019s just the back issue, really, that\u2019s proving difficult. We\u2019ll keep working as hard as we can, to get him back as quickly as we can.”<\/p>\n
With De Ligt still sidelined, Mart\u00ednez\u2019s likely comeback after the break is a tangible boost for a side with limited central defensive options. At present the senior choices named are Harry Maguire, Leny Yoro and 19-year-old Ayden Heaven.<\/p>\n
The manager also offered an update on Mason Mount, who has faced repeated fitness problems since his move from Chelsea in 2023 in a package worth up to $75.7 million (\u00a360 million). Mount has managed 66 appearances across all competitions for the club and has missed 58 matches through various fitness concerns. He returned to the bench as an unused substitute for the 3\u20131 win over Aston Villa at the weekend, and Carrick stressed caution over his reintroduction. “Starting would be too much, I think, at this point,” Carrick said of the midfielder.<\/p>\n
Carrick\u2019s remarks underline a careful approach to managing recovery across the squad as United prepare for a busy period that includes the visit of Leeds United on April 13 after the international break.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Carrick: Martinez will miss Bournemouth but should be fit for the Leeds game after the break. please.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8954,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1083,172],"tags":[1305,1393,1535],"class_list":["post-8955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-man-utd","category-epl","tag-bench-selection","tag-centre-back","tag-man-utd-injury-update"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8955","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=8955"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8955\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}