Man United defender Lisandro Martinez is close to a return to action from a serious knee injury.Martinez pictured in the Carrington gym.(Image: 2025 Manchester United FC)

Manchester United defender Lisandro Martinez will train with the Argentina national team throughout the international break.

Martinez has reached the final stage of his recovery from an anterior cruciate ligament injury. He returned to full training at Carrington at the end of October, but he was not ready to feature in matchday squads against Nottingham Forest and Tottenham in the Premier League.

Lionel Scaloni did not name Martinez in Argentina’s squad for the upcoming internationals, but the 27-year-old will link up with his national side during a training camp in Europe to build fitness.

United have given the green light for Martinez to train with Argentina because they believe the centre-back will benefit from competitive training sessions during the international break.

Martinez will not partake in games and a member of United’s performance team will support him.

Before United’s trip to Nottingham Forest, Amorim explained: “He wants to go to this one [Forest], he isn’t going to this one. He’s going to need time. He has started training with us, but we had to change some things in his exercises, so slowly he is going to get better.

“It’s really good. He gives use that edge in every training session, that is also really good for us. The rest of the guys we have one day. I don’t know about Harry Maguire, the rest are fit.”

Luke Shaw has started every Premier League game this season on the left side of the back-three, and Martinez is expected to compete with Shaw for a starting role when he returns.

Amorim recently reflected on Martinez’s absence, saying: “When you have that injury, you have that time where you recover a lot of things really hard, then there is the boring part where it looks like you don’t go to the next step.

“We miss a lot Licha, especially in this moment, we miss his aggression in everything he does, we miss him. But he’s always there in every meeting. In training, he sometimes finishes his and stays to watch the training. We need Licha in this team.”

Martinez made 32 appearances in all competitions last term and is now into his fourth season in Manchester.

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