Overview
- The Daily Mail, echoed by multiple outlets, reports Martinez will step up to full first-team work at Carrington this week and is targeting Brighton on October 25 or Nottingham Forest on November 1 for match minutes.
- Martinez has been sidelined since an ACL tear in February and subsequent surgery in London, with Ruben Amorim intent on easing him back to protect long-term fitness.
- Several reports suggest the October 19 trip to Anfield will come too soon for the defender, with United otherwise expecting to travel with a near-clean bill of health.
- Noussair Mazraoui, out since September with a knock, was expected to return after the international break, leaving his availability for Liverpool to be confirmed.
- Liverpool face their own injury concerns, with Alisson, Wataru Endo and Giovanni Leoni expected to miss out and doubts persisting over Ibrahima Konate and Ryan Gravenberch.