Erik ten Hag on Man Utd’s plan for international stars and Martinez recovery

Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag does not expect to involve any of the club’s returning international players in their next pre-season friendly, while he says Lisandro Martinez will take a little while to re-find his rhythm.

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The Red Devils kicked off their packed pre-season schedule with a 2-0 win over recently relegated Leeds in Oslo, with youngsters Noam Emeran and Joe Hugill netting for a youthful second-half XI.

United’s many international players who were involved in matches for their nation’s last month did not travel to Norway and are not scheduled to report back to Carrington until the weekend.

Just a few days later, the club travel to Edinburgh to take on Lyon in their next friendly but Ten Hag intends to treat his returning players with care after such a punishing campaign last season and short turnaround over the summer.

Asked about United’s internationals stars and when they will return, Ten Hag told MUTV: ‘I think Saturday.

‘It’s very vital [to have them back] but those players, most of them will not show up in Edinburgh as well as they first need time to have a good training week.

‘They had days off, relaxation. Those players played the most games last season so they needed that rest.

‘And then we need to bring them back but we have to do it carefully. You can’t go from zero to 100.

‘At the end of last season, we didn’t always have out best starting XI, so that is what you want to achieve.’

Martinez, who missed Argentina’s recent games as he was recovering from a fractured metatarsal, played the first 45 minutes in Oslo but Ten Hag says the 25-year-old will take time to get back to his previous levels.

Asked about the Argentine, Ten Hag replied: ‘Licha was injured for the last part of the season and you can see he’s still on his way back.

‘He worked very hard during the summer and now he returned first time back in the game but you see he’s got a little bit of a lack of rhythm.

‘But you also see Rapha [Raphael Varane] and Licha fit and very good together, very solid.’

On the team’s overall performance against Leeds, he added: ‘I think we have seen some good things, good stuff, what we’ve trained over the last year. We have a good foundation, you can see that in the game.

‘Also some young lads came in and they fitted in. We are now one week training, we presented them the rules and the principles and, as I say, we’ve seen some good stuff.’

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