05 February 2024 , 12:22
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Rio Ferdinand admits Lisandro Martinez's injury could "kill" Manchester United's season.
The Argentine has been out for the majority of the season but his return has coincided with an upturn in form for the Red Devils. Martinez proved to be a hit in his debut term at Old Trafford but without him, the team have struggled to hit the heights expected.
Since Martinez has come back into the fold Erik ten Hag's side have won three on the bounce, scoring 11 goals in the process. But in Sunday's victory over West Ham, the centre-half went down clutching his knee in the second half before coming off in obvious pain.
United have been inconsistent throughout the season and Ferdinand fears that their latest injury blow could be telling. He said on the FIVE podcast: "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. And those two are really good with the ball in terms of setting up attacks, the ball generally comes from that side."
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He added: "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."
Ten Hag confirmed after the victory that Martinez's injury could prove to be as bad as it looked when he trudged off the Old Trafford pitch. "I can't say but it doesn't look good. There is a bad concern," said the Dutchman. "We have to wait for a few days for the diagnosis. We do everything to get the right diagnosis and see what is the damage.
The early diagnosis is not good for the Argentine"He is very sad, very disappointed. We all feel really with him. First of all, it is a personal disaster when it is really bad, but also for the team it is really bad because he definitely brings us a lot."
With Martinez set to be absent, United will have to turn to Harry Maguire, Victor Lindelof, Raphael Varane and Jonny Evans to form partnerships at the heart of defence. There has been a lack of continuity at centre-half this term, owing largely to injury, while several of Ten Hag's options face uncertain futures.