Man Utd news: 27-year-old star makes shock retirement claim after “constant struggle” with serious injuries

Manchester United centre-back Lisandro Martinez has admitted that he considered retiring from football last year after suffering a serious knee injury.

The 27-year-old spent nine months on the sidelines recovering from an anterior cruciate ligament injury that required surgery, before making his long-awaited return to first-team action in November.

Martinez has had a number of injury problems during his time at Old Trafford and has missed more than 85 matches due to those setbacks since joining Man United in the summer of 2022.

The Red Devils defender opened up on his “constant struggle” in his recovery from injury during a candid interview with Argentine news outlet AFA Estudio.

“You feel like you're not a football player anymore,” Martinez said. "You feel pain and think you'll never play football again.

“A mental and physical imbalance, which, honestly, when I think about it today, I don't know how I did it. I clung to the people around me, my family, my friends.

Martinez: ‘In the face of adversity, you show your true character’

“After the first two or three weeks, to be honest, I didn't want to play football anymore, and then, of course, you become more aware, you get that support.'

In April 2023, Martinez fractured a metatarsal bone in his right foot, ruling him out for the rest of the season before he required a second operation on the same issue, keeping him in the treatment room for a total of 180 days across two spells that year.

The Argentina international, and 2022 World Cup winner, subsequently missed the 2023 FA Cup final loss to rival Man City, while he also missed Man United’s Europa League final defeat to Tottenham in May last year with his ACL injury.

Commenting on his rehabilitation from his latest knee injury, Martinez said: “You need to not take the easy way out. The easy way out is to just give up and that's it.

“But, I always say, it's in the face of adversity that you show your true character. So I reconnected with myself, I reconnected with my roots, with who I am, with my values, and I gave it my all, day after day.

Martinez proud to have ‘not given up’ after “constant struggle” with injuries

“For me, it was day by day, a constant struggle, and my match was every day at the gym. Then I had therapy with my psychologist, always trying to improve in every aspect.

“Then I was clear about what I wanted, right? To try to become the best version of myself, to give my best, to see how far I could go.

“The truth is that with each passing month, I saw the results, I saw how I was getting stronger, and today, on the pitch, I feel excellent, and I say that thanks to those days, well, of suffering, of not giving up - today we have the results.”

Since returning to first-team action, Martinez has featured in nine Premier League games for Man United and has started in each of the last four, captaining the Red Devils on three occasions.

Martinez is set to remain a key figure at the club under new interim head coach Michael Carrick and the defender is expected to start in Man United’s Premier League derby showdown with Man City at Old Trafford on Saturday.