(Football news) Since sustaining a knee injury against West Ham United at the beginning of February, the 26-year-old has not appeared in any games for the Red Devils.

Martinez was limited to just 10 club appearances this season due to an injury that kept him out of action early in the campaign, requiring him to have surgery on his foot for the second time in his career.

Surprisingly, the center-back was included in the Argentina team for their March friendlies against Costa Rica and El Salvador. However, Manchester United stated that the player would not play in either match and had only traveled to the United States to intensify his training regimen.

“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,” read a statement on Man United’s official website earlier this month.

Towards the end of last week, a report claimed that Manchester United were hopeful of having Martinez available for their next match against Brentford on March 30.

Martinez is now heading back to England, cutting his time with the Argentina squad short in order to continue his rehabilitation at Manchester United’s Carrington training complex.

The report claims that the centre-back is expecting to be available against Brentford, and he believes that a full week of training at his club’s base will put him in a strong position to feature in the clash with the Bees.

Martinez watched on as Argentina recorded a 3-0 victory over El Salvador on Friday, with his Manchester United teammate Alejandro Garnacho coming off the bench at the half-time break.

The defender has been absent for Manchester United’s last five Premier League matches, while he also missed out against Nottingham Forest and Liverpool in the FA Cup.

However, Martinez is set to make a timely return for Erik ten Hag’s side next weekend, and he will be bidding to put what has been a frustrating 12 months of injury problems behind him.

Man United is still in the hunt for trophies this season, and they will play Championship team Coventry City in the FA Cup semi-finals the following month.

In the meantime, the Red Devils are fighting for a Champions League position in the Premier League standings. They are now in sixth place, six points behind Tottenham Hotspur in fifth place and nine points behind Aston Villa in fourth place, who have played one more game than them.

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