Returning Martya huge lift for United

UNITED defender Lisandro Martinez flew to the United States this week to join up with Argentina's national team.

- STEVEN RAILSTON

Martinez didn't travel to feature in either of Argentina's friendlies against El Salvador or Costa Rica, he merely flew out to be around his international team-mates.

He was scheduled to return to Manchester yesterday.

He is still recovering from an injury suffered to the medial collateral ligament in his knee and the timeline for his rehabilitation was expected to be at least eight weeks, which earmarked the end of March as the potential date for his return.

The worst was feared when Martinez went down to the ground holding his knee against West Ham at the beginning of last month, but thankfully he didn't require surgery.