United Centre-Back Nearly Quit Football During Nine-Month Layoff

Manchester United defender Lisandro Martínez has revealed he came close to retiring from professional football during a lengthy recovery from injury, saying he struggled mentally and physically before ultimately committing to his comeback.

The candid interview was given to AFA Estudio, where he reflected on his rehabilitation and how support from those around him helped him persevere.

The 27-year-old Argentina international was sidelined for approximately nine months after damaging his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in February during a Premier League match against Crystal Palace. Martínez explained that the initial stages of rehabilitation left him struggling to cope with the reality of his situation.

“You feel like you're not a football player anymore. You feel pain and think you'll never play football again. A mental and physical imbalance, which, honestly, when I think about it today, I don't know how I did it,” Martínez said in the interview.

The defender admitted that in the first weeks after the injury, he seriously contemplated ending his career.

“After the first two or three weeks, to be honest, I didn't want to play football anymore,” he said, describing the emotional toll of his absence.

The ACL setback was only the most recent in a series of injuries that have disrupted Martínez’s time at Old Trafford since his arrival from Ajax in July 2022.

Earlier in his United career, he suffered a fractured metatarsal in April 2023 during a Europa League clash with Sevilla, which led to multiple operations and extensive time on the sidelines.

The timing of these injuries proved particularly painful for Martínez, as they forced him to watch from the stands during some of United’s major finals. He was absent for the 2023 FA Cup final defeat by Manchester City, and his ACL injury ruled him out of the Europa League final loss to Tottenham Hotspur last May.

Martínez credited his eventual return to the pitch to a combination of professional psychological support, the encouragement of family and friends, and a focus on rediscovering his own values and motivation.

“You need to not take the easy way out. The easy way out is to just give up and that’s it,” Martínez said. “But, I always say, it’s in the face of adversity that you show your true character.”

He described the rehabilitation as a daily challenge that required mental resilience as much as physical progress.

“For me, it was day by day, a constant struggle, and my match was every day at the gym,” he explained.

Martínez has since returned to action following his ACL recovery and made his comeback in November 2025, closing the chapter on one of the most testing periods of his career, and is now back in contention for first-team duties under Manchester United’s current setup.