On-loan Manchester United attacker Anthony Martial has been left out of Sevilla's 23-man squad for Friday evening's La Liga clash with Alaves, the Spanish club has confirmed.
Martial, who joined Sevilla on loan for the remainder of the season in the January transfer window, is not included in the travelling 23-man squad due to injury. He picked up a niggle in the 1-1 draw with Espanyol almost a fortnight ago and has not played since.
He missed the second-leg of Sevilla's Europa League showdown with Dinamo Zagreb, which the Spanish side lost 1-0, as well as last Sunday's 2-1 triumph over arch rivals Real Betis. Despite his absence, Sevilla have kept the specifics of his injury under wraps.
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Sevilla president Jose Castro, speaking last weekend, said: "They [everyone] want to know questions related to injuries, but each club has its strategy. We do what we understand is the best.
"Everything ends up being known before each match. I understand everyone, but the club has its own way of proceeding for what it understands to be the ideal, just as other clubs do."
However, on Wednesday, the La Liga outfit — who face West Ham in the first-leg of their Europa League last-16 tie next week — confirmed that the United loanee had returned to first-team training, raising hopes that he would return against Alaves. They shared an image of him donning a big smile in training, suggesting that a return was imminent.
But Julen Lopetegui has deemed Martial is not yet ready to seal a return. Since joining the Spanish side, the Frenchman has scored one goal in his first four appearances. He netted their third goal to help them seal a 3-1 win over Zagreb in the first-leg of their European showdown last month.
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