Three Manchester United centre-backs have been in the news this week, as various international squads have been announced, ahead of the upcoming break.
While the focus is solely on Manchester United”s huge Emirates FA Cup quarter-final contest with Liverpool on Sunday, of course there are also questions over the availability of some players as Erik ten Hag plots a route into the last four of the competition.
Firstly, Lisandro Martinez is not yet ready to return from a knee injury but is joining up with the Argentina squad in the United States. The defender will continue the final steps in his rehabilitation there but will not feature in the matches against El Salvador and Costa Rica.
It has been decided that Lisandro will benefit from training with his international colleagues as he regains fitness, rather than staying at Carrington, where there will be few players training next week.
Harry Maguire has been named in the England squad, as Gareth Southgate”s side prepare to take on Brazil and Belgium.
Our no.5 has been out of action since the home match with Fulham, when he scored in a 2-1 defeat. He is close to recovery but we await Ten Hag”s press conference later today (Friday), to discover if he has any chance of facing the Merseysiders this weekend.
Jonny Evans, meanwhile, was not called up for Northern Ireland, as they tackle Romania and Scott McTominay”s Scotland.
The vastly experienced centre-back has been nursing a minor issue for the past few matches and, consequently, his game-time has been carefully managed.
It is in the best interests of both club and country for him to have a period of rest, in order to recover fully.
