When news broke of Anthony Martial’s desire to leave Manchester United on Wednesday, fans didn’t have to wait long for the club to respond. Several reports in Sky Sports and from the BBC suggested that United weren’t planning on selling the French forward, and risk seeing the player purchased from AS Monaco in 2015 star elsewhere. Whilst the list of players who have excelled after leaving Old Trafford isn’t necessarily long, the idea of Martial leaving Old Trafford having failed to fulfil his potential was less-than palatable.
Yet proceedings have seemingly taken another turn this week, if today’s report in the Independent is anything to go by. It states that whilst the club are hesitant to let the player go, United boss Jose Mourinho is far less conflicted, and would be happy to sanction Martial’s departure from the club. However, his potential destination would likely not be in the Premier League, with Tottenham Hotspur ruled out, and Chelsea unlikely to happen unless the London side include Willian in any potential deal.
More likely, United would be happy to do business with Juventus or Real Madrid, who have both expressed an interest in Martial’s services. Mourinho’s bosses are supporting Mourinho’s decisions in the transfer window this summer, but the fact that there remains such a difference in their view of Martial and his potential as a star of the game is jarring to hear of, and could lead to further problems down the line given how frequently Mourinho has criticised the club’s young talent in the last two years.
More than that, it would be a huge shame to see Martial leave Old Trafford and fulfil his potential elsewhere. After arriving at the club as a relative unknown from Ligue 1, the Frenchman was electric in his debut campaign at United, scoring 17 times.
