Manchester United’s season is going to be further derailed by Lisandro Martinez’s recent injury, club icon Rio Ferdinand has warned.
With one of their most composed and confident displays of the season, United defeated West Ham 3-0 on Sunday.
Only a few weeks after the centre-back made his comeback from injury, Martinez hobbled off the field during the second half, so it wasn’t all smiles in the end.
The defender has only made 10 appearances this season due to a foot injury and United have sorely missed him. It looks like he may lose more time due to another injury.
After the match, Erik ten Hag said: ‘I can’t tell the detail but it seems bad. We can only pray.
‘It’s very bad for him and very bad for the team. He’s just returning and is a very important part for us. Last season, when he fell out, I felt our performances dropped a level.’
Without the Argentine World champion in the lineup, Ferdinand is extremely worried that United won’t be able to replicate their performance against West Ham. The Red Devils have a steep climb to the top four.
‘He got a little injury. He done his knee. I see he tweaked it. I think that looks like ligaments, man. He tried to carry on and then said, “No, no, no I’ve got to go”,’ the United legend said on the FIVE podcast.
‘So, listen, if he’s out, it kills it. You can see with him and Luke Shaw on that side, when they’re together, they look so dominant, they look so confident, they look so composed with the ball.
‘And those two are really good with the ball in terms of setting up attacks, the ball generally comes from that side. Any of the good stuff we do, Martinez, even you see for the first goal, he clips it in.
‘Yes it goes to [Kurt] Zouma and he heads it down and Casemiro intercepts and we get the goal off that, but it’s because Martinez is playing forward, he’s playing forceful passes.
‘So that will be disappointing. We’ve had so many injuries and he’s one of them that’s been out of a while and he’s probably one of our most influential players.’
