Lisandro Martinez has been called up by Argentina despite his injury woes (Picture: Getty)
Manchester United insist Lisandro Martinez is not ready to feature in Sunday’s FA Cup quarter final against Liverpool, despite being called up to the Argentina national squad.
The World Cup winner has endured an injury plagued campaign and has been restricted to making just 10 appearances in all competitions.
Martinez suffered his latest setback in a 3-0 win over West Ham in early February and has gradually been working his way back to full fitness.
Sunday’s heavyweight showdown at Old Trafford will come too soo, however, for the former Ajax defender who will instead be allowed to focus on building up his fitness with his national team.
‘Lisandro Martinez is not yet ready to return from a knee injury but is joining up with the Argentina squad in the United States,’ read a statement on United’s official website.
‘The defender will continue the final steps in his rehabilitation there but will not feature in the matches against El Salvador and Costa Rica.
‘It has been decided that Lisandro will benefit from training with his international colleagues as he regains fitness, rather than staying at Carrington, where there will be few players training next week.’
Harry Maguire has missed Manchester United’s last three matches (Picture: Getty)
Martinez’s absence has been compounded by Harry maguire’s own injury struggles with the former United captain having sustained an injury in the recent defeat against Fulham which has ruled him out of the last three matches.
Like Martinez, Maguire has been called up to his national team squad ahead of England’s friendlies against Brazil and Spain and Erik ten Hag will provide a full update on the centre-half’s fitness at his pre-match press conference on Friday.
Jonny Evans, meanwhile, is also nursing an injury which has prevented him from representing Northern Ireland over the course of the international break.
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‘The vastly experienced centre-back has been nursing a minor issue for the past few matches and, consequently, his game-time has been carefully managed,’ the statement continued.
‘It is in the best interests of both club and country for him to have a period of rest, in order to recover fully.’
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