'Back soon' - Man Utd defender sends message to Lisandro Martinez after crushing injury blow

Diogo Dalot hopes Manchester United teammate Lisandro Martinez will be 'back soon' after what looked to be a serious injury against West Ham on Sunday.

Martinez was forced off in the second-half of United's 3-0 win at home to the Hammers after a tangle with Vladimir Coufal. The Argentinian instantly waved to the bench while holding his knee and cut a devastated figure as teammates tried to console him.

He came back on for a brief period but went down again, eventually walking off the pitch to be replaced by Raphael Varane. The nature of the injury is not yet known but Martinez only just returned from a lengthy absence and now looks set for another spell on the sidelines.

Taking to Instagram after the match, Dalot posted a picture of Martinez alongside the caption: “Your pain is our pain." The right-back also added in Portuguese: "You will be back soon my brother.”

Martinez has made just 10 appearances for United this campaign, having been out for almost four months due to a recurrence of the foot injury he suffered against Sevilla last season. Manager Erik ten Hag has rarely given detail on injuries in the instant aftermath, deciding to wait 24 hours until further assessments can be made, but admitted on Sunday it was a 'personal disaster' for the centre-back.

"He is very sad, very disappointed," Ten Hag said. "We all feel really with him. First of all it is a personal disaster when it is really bad, but also for the team it is really bad because he definitely brings us a lot.”

The injury is also a major blow for United, who have looked more defensively stable with Martinez back. Ten Hag has also made no secret of his desire to have left and right-footed defenders on their natural sides and Martinez was key to that. United did enjoy an excellent day at Old Trafford apart from the injury, with Alejandro Garnacho's brace adding to a fourth goal in as many games for Rasmus Hojlund in a 3-0 win over West Ham. Ten Hag will likely give a fresh update on the defender in his pre-Aston Villa press conference later this week.