Manchester United's Lisandro Martinez 'to return to England on Saturday'

The 26-year-old has not featured for the Red Devils since picking up a knee injury against West Ham United at the start of February.

Martinez has been restricted to just 10 appearances at club level this season, as he missed a chunk of action earlier in the campaign, having been forced to undergo a second foot operation of 2023.

The centre-back was surprisingly named in the Argentina squad for their March friendlies with El Salvador and Costa Rica, but Man United insisted that he would not be considered for either match and had simply travelled with the squad to the United States in order to step up his training programme.

"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 Man United were hopeful of having Martinez available for their next match against Brentford on March 30.

According to the Daily Mail, Martinez is now heading back to England, cutting his time with the Argentina squad short in order to continue his rehabilitation at Man 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 Man United teammate Alejandro Garnacho coming off the bench at the half-time break.

The defender has been absent for Man 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 are still chasing silverware this season, with Championship outfit Coventry City their opponents in the semi-finals of the FA Cup next month.

The Red Devils are battling to secure a Champions League spot in the Premier League table, meanwhile, currently sitting sixth, six points behind fifth-placed Tottenham Hotspur and nine from fourth-placed Aston Villa, who have played a game more.