Amad Diallo pinpoints Lisandro Martinez influence as Man United captaincy case grows

Manchester United's young star, Amad Diallo, has praised team-mate Lisandro Martinez for his support during a tough season. Amad, who is working hard to regain his fitness and secure his place in Erik ten Hag's plans, has been sidelined with a serious knee injury.

Amad was all set for a big season after scoring 14 goals and providing four assists in 42 games while on loan at Sunderland last year. But, a knee injury during United's pre-season tour of the US put him out of action for five months.

He made his return to the pitch with a brief appearance in United's 2-1 loss to Nottingham Forest on December 30. Since then, he's been on the bench for three matches.

In a recent chat, Amad highlighted how Martinez, who was also injured at the time, helped him through his recovery. "Lisandro is a fantastic person. He's more than a player to me. He's a leader. When I got injured, he was injured too, so he really helped me," said Amad.

"He spoke to me a lot and told me not to worry about the injury, and the main thing was to stay positive and work hard to get back into the team, so I did what he and everyone else said."

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Martinez, a 26-year-old World Cup winner, has faced his fair share of injury troubles this term after suffering a reoccurrence of a foot issue that caused him to miss the end of his first season in England.

He returned to action in January but only played four times before he encountered a new issue with the medial collateral ligament in his knee.

Owing to this latest setback, audiences are predicting Martinez could be absent from the pitch for another six to eight weeks.