Why Man Utd let Lisandro Martinez join Argentina camp despite not being called up

Manchester United defender Lisandro Martinez is set to train with the Argentina national team during the international break, despite not being named in Lionel Scaloni's squad for the upcoming internationals. The 27-year-old has been recovering from an anterior cruciate ligament injury and returned to full training at Carrington at the end of October.

However, he was not fit enough to feature in matchday squads against Nottingham Forest and Tottenham in the Premier League. Martinez will join his national side during a training camp in Europe to build fitness, with United giving the green light as they believe the centre-back will benefit from competitive training sessions during the international break.

However, Martinez will not participate in games and will be supported by a member of United's performance team.

Before United's trip to Forest, Amorim explained: "He wants to go to this one [Forest], he isn't going to this one. He's going to need time. He has started training with us, but we had to change some things in his exercises, so slowly he is going to get better."

"It's really good. He gives use that edge in every training session, that is also really good for us. The rest of the guys we have one day. I don't know about Harry Maguire, the rest are fit."

Luke Shaw has been a constant presence on the left side of the back-three in every Premier League match this season, and it is anticipated that Martinez will challenge Shaw for a starting position upon his return.

Amorim recently shared his thoughts on Martinez's absence, stating: "When you have that injury, you have that time where you recover a lot of things really hard, then there is the boring part where it looks like you don't go to the next step.

"We miss a lot Licha, especially in this moment, we miss his aggression in everything he does, we miss him. But he's always there in every meeting. In training, he sometimes finishes his and stays to watch the training. We need Licha in this team."

Martinez clocked up 32 appearances across all competitions last season and is now embarking on his fourth season in Manchester.