Despite not being “100% fit,” Lisandro Martinez continued to play, according to Erik ten Hag. Martinez has now experienced a recurrence of an ailment that could keep him out of the game for three months

Martinez’s fantastic debut season in English football was cut short by an injury sustained during a Europa League match against Sevilla in April of last year.

The summer saw the Argentina international make a comeback to the team, starting the season’s first five league games as well as the Champions League group-opening match against Bayern Munich.

Martinez had to leave the team for the August 3-1 loss to Arsenal due to a foot injury, but he returned for the international break against Brighton and the subsequent match against Bayern four days later.

Ten Hag acknowledged that Martinez played despite injury concerns, and United on Friday stated that their defender is now facing a “extended period out” as a result of the ailment getting worse.

When asked if starting Martinez in those games had not worked out, ten Hag responded to reporters on Friday by saying, “We performed a proper diagnostic, but they also performed one in Argentina.”

“Now that it’s been revealed that there was an issue, that’s really unfortunate. Licha obviously took first place, but he also hurt the team because he wasn’t fully fit.”

Martinez was one of United’s top players the previous season, but since the team has conceded 14 goals in five games while he was in the starting lineup this season, former players have criticized Martinez.

“I believe that Licha Martinez’s performance in the last two games against Brighton and Bayern made a significant difference because it wasn’t the Licha Martinez we saw during our first season at Manchester United,” ten Hag stated.