Lisandro Martinez will undergo a second operation on his broken metatarsal

Lisandro Martinez will have a second operation on his broken metatarsal on Monday after suffering a setback in his return from injury.

Manchester United revealed on Friday that Martinez will be out of action for up to three months due to a recurrence of the problem that ruled him out at the end of last season.

Mail Sport can reveal that the Argentina defender will have further surgery on the fifth metatarsal in his right foot on Monday in a bid to cure the problem once and for all.

Martinez suffered the original injury in a Europa League tie against Sevilla in April and was out for 11 weeks.

He returned for pre-season early in a bid to get fit before playing on United's pre-season tour of America and then the opening four Premier League games of the season.

However, he experienced pain in the same foot in the defeat at Arsenal last month and was forced to come off in the second half at the Emirates.

It's understood the former 25-year-old former Ajax defender took painkillers to play in the subsequent games against Brighton and Bayern Munich, and further tests on Thursday revealed that the fracture has not healed correctly.

Speaking about the injury on Friday, manager Erik ten Hag said: 'We did a proper diagnosis, in Argentina as well, but now it came out that there was a problem. That's very sad, for him and the team, because he was not 100 per cent fit.

'I think it was a big difference the Licha Martinez in the last games and the Licha Martinez we have seen in the first season here. He will add to the team, a really strong contributor to our levels and if already one player drops a level, the team performance will be lower.'