Anthony Martial is back in individual training as he prepares for a Manchester United return, with a forgotten Red Devils teammate potentially involved in the same session at Carrington.
Martial has been out injured since early February, the latest setback in what has been a stop-start season for the France forward.
A new graphic posted by Twitter account @UtdArena on Tuesday showed how many minutes each member of the United squad has played this season – and it makes for bad reading for Martial.
He has featured for 749 minutes across his 14 appearances in all competitions this season. That is a lower amount than January signing Wout Weghorst, defender Aaron Wan-Bissaka (who was injured for nearly four months), and even Cristiano Ronaldo, who left the club during the World Cup.
Martial does have a good record when he has played for United this season, though. In 14 appearances in all competitions, he has scored six goals and provided two assists.
His return will provide an additional option for Ten Hag when it comes to the attacking section of the pitch, and with United facing a busy schedule in the upcoming months, he could prove to be a key player between now and the end of the season.
Martial back in Man Utd training
But what is more intriguing is that there is an unidentified player that is behind him, completing a range of running drills.
There has been speculation on social media that the player in question is defender Phil Jones, who has not played a first-team match for United all season – but the club have not confirmed if he is training.
His contract at United expires this summer, and there has been little mention of the 31-year-old over the course of the campaign by senior figures at Old Trafford.
That was until Ten Hag confirmed last month that Jones had not completed a training session since he arrived as manager, although said a decision over his future would not be taken until the summer.
He said: “Then decision about that is for the summer, but for the whole season he’s injured.
“I can’t say [if Jones will play again this season]. What I can say is that he’s not available for training since the first day of training this season so I think there’s not an opportunity for you to recover quickly and be available quickly.”
The former Blackburn star suffered a long-term knee injury in January 2020 which caused him to miss 18 months of action, and Jones said he had “been through hell and back” upon his return.
He remained a reliable option when called upon by Ralf Rangnick last season, but has spent the current campaign injured and it is unclear as to whether he will play for the club again before the end of his contract.
#Forgotten #Man #Utd #player #spotted #training #Anthony #Martial #ahead #Barcelona #clash