Manchester United dealt latest blow as extent of Lisandro Martinez injury revealed

The centre-back will be out for at least eight weeks after injuring his knee against West Ham

Manchester United’s Lisandro Martinez is set for another spell on the sidelines due to a knee injury (AP)

Lisandro Martinez has been ruled out until April with a knee injury sustained in Manchester United’s 3-0 win over West Ham on Sunday.

But a medial collateral ligament problem has proved a less serious diagnosis than United initially feared when manager Erik ten Hag spoke of a “personal disaster” for the Argentinian defender as he worried it would be a “very bad” injury.

Nevertheless, while the World Cup winner will not require an operation now, he will be sidelined for a minimum of eight weeks and is set to miss at least seven games, starting with Sunday’s trip to Aston Villa and including March’s Manchester derby. He will also sit out United’s FA Cup fifth-round tie and a potential quarter-final. He could face a race against time to be fit for the matches against Chelsea and Liverpool in the first week of April.

It means Martinez’s season will end up disrupted by two lengthy spells on the sidelines. The West Ham match was the fourth game of his comeback after four months out following surgery on a foot problem.

He was not fully fit at the start of the campaign, when he made six appearances, and has only played for 741 minutes for United since he was hurt in last April’s Europa League draw against Sevilla.

Sunday was the first match since August when Ten Hag had last season’s four centre-backs – Martinez, Raphael Varane, Victor Lindelof and Harry Maguire – all available. Martinez and Varane, the regular pairing then, have not begun a game together at Old Trafford since August.