Former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand has said that Lisandro Martinez’ knee injury could plunge the Red Devils’ season into disarray.
Martinez, 26, was playing only his third game following a 22-game absence due to a foot injury when he seemingly injured the medial ligament of his knee. The incident happened in the second half of United’s 3-0 Premier League win over West Ham United at Old Trafford on Sunday (February 4).
The initial comments from manager Erik ten Hag were not promising, as he said that the injury didn’t look ‘good’. A day later, an unnamed insider injury specialist said that Martinez sustained a medial collateral ligament injury and could be out for up to six weeks.
Ferdinand said on his FIVE podcast (as per Metro) about Martinez‘s ‘little’ injury:
“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. 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.”
He concluded:
“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.”
Martinez has played just 10 times across competitions this season, assisting once.
What’s next for Manchester United?
Manchester United relieved the pressure on their embattled boss Erik ten Hag with a convincing 3-0 home win over West Ham. Birthday boy Rasmus Hojlund opened the scoring before Alejandro Garnacho scored either side of the break to confirm the three points.
The Red Devils next travel to Aston Villa in the league on Sunday (February 11). Ten Hag’s side are up to sixth in the standings, with 38 points from 23 games, 13 points behind leaders Liverpool, who stumbled 3-1 at Arsenal at the weekend.
The reverse fixture with Villa saw United win 3-2 at home in December, with Garnacho at the double and Hojlund also scoring. All three United goals came in the second half after the Red Devils trailed by two goals midway through the first half.
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