Manchester United set for Lisandro Martinez injury boost as new return date 'revealed'

Ruben Amorim’s defensive options are set to be significantly bolstered at Old Trafford

Lisandro Martinez will rejoin full first-team training at Manchester United this week and is hopeful of returning to match action before the end of October, new reports claim.

The Argentine defender has been working back out on the grass at Carrington of late as he continues to build up his fitness after another extended period on the sidelines.

Martinez - who has dealt with a number of injuries since arriving in English football from Ajax in 2022 - has not played for United since early February, when he suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee during the 2-0 Premier League defeat by Crystal Palace at Old Trafford.

The World Cup winner was stretchered off in tears and later underwent surgery in London amid fears that he could be sidelined for an entire year.

But Martinez has been making strong progress with his latest recovery and returned to initial training activities at Carrington last month.

The Daily Mail now report that the 27-year-old will resume full first-team training with United this week following a positive scan and is targeting either the visit of Brighton on October 25 or trip to Nottingham Forest on November 1 for his potential return to match action.

The return of the influential Martinez would be a major boost for United, who on Sunday face a trip to out-of-sorts rivals Liverpool following the international break, looking to win back-to-back games for the first time this season and finally start to build some momentum after a 2-0 home victory over Sunderland .

Versatile Moroccan wing-back Noussair Mazraoui is the Red Devils’ only other known injury concern at present, though Ruben Amorim previously said he would hopefully be back after the October break.

"It's really important,” the United head coach said last month when asked about the mental impact of Martinez’s return to training.

“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 [Martinez], 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.”