Patrick Rees
Anthony Martial’s name has been grabbing the headlines of recent, as the English media is constantly linking the 21-year-old with an exit from the Old Trafford. The former Monaco man, who arrived at the Theatre of Dreams as an unknown quantity, hit the strides in his very first season as he was the club’s highest goal scorer with 17 goals in all competitions.
Certainly, a great feat to achieve, but as soon as the Portuguese tactician – Jose Mourinho – arrived, tables started to turn for the talented teenager. The manager bought his capable reinforcement and that has seen the young Anthony losing his place in the starting line-up.
The result was quite clear, Jose Mourinho displaced Martial from the starting berth and since then, he has been an in and out personnel in the squad. And this lead to the rumours and Mourinho openly came out and advised the youngster to listen to him.
“Anthony needs to listen to me and not listen to his agent,” the Portuguese coach was quoted as saying by the Manchester Evening News after Martial scored in United’s 2-1 win over Middlesbrough on New Year’s Eve. “He has to listen to me in training every day. Every feedback I give to players I give to improve players.”
The new year started on a positive note for the former Golden Boy winner as he scored in the 4-0 thrashing of Reading in the FA cup tie, but following that – against Liverpool, he failed to have any kind of impact in the game.
He was then given an opportunity against Wigan in the FA cup fixture and even though the boy failed to score, he marked two assists in the game, but that, unfortunately, wasn’t enough for the manager and Martial remained an unused substitute in their 0-0 draw against Hull City.
The boy, who ended up being the top scorer of the club last season, has only six goals to his name in 22 appearances in this campaign. This is not it for Martial, as the most embarrassing stat is his minutes per goal ratio.
As per Goal, Martial has scored a goal every 356 minutes and his brother – Johan, who plays in central defence for the French second division side Troyes – has netted one every 279 minutes. Johan scored twice in eight minutes last Tuesday against Strasbourg and that has elevated his stat like anything.
This certainly is a thing to worry and Martial needs to start performing again if he wants to save his United career. Even though he cleared all the rumours of his potential exit through his twitter account, the danger is still on his head.
