Mourinho to let Martial go on two conditions

Jose Mourinho will let Anthony Martial leave this summer as long as Manchester United can find the right price and club for the unsettled Frenchman. Mourinho warned Martial that he cannot dictate his own terms after the 22-year-old winger failed to impress in a goalless draw with San Jose Earthquakes on Sunday.

But it’s understood that the United manager has no wish to keep an unhappy player and will urge the Old Trafford board to sell Martial so he can sign a replacement before the transfer deadline on August 9. United would demand around £80million for Martial who cost £36m, rising to a possible £58m, when he arrived from Monaco three years ago.

Tottenham, Chelsea, Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain have all expressed an interest in him, but United would rather not sell to a Premier League rival. Martial has rejected the offer of a new contract as he enters the final year of his current deal, although the club have an option to extend it by another 12 months.

But Mourinho is happy to let Martial leave rather than hold on to an unsettled player who has struggled to adapt to his methods over the past two seasons. Martial’s agent Philippe Lamboley revealed last month that he wants to leave, and the player smiled without making any comment when asked by reporters about his situation following the San Jose game at Levi’s Stadium. Mourinho, meanwhile, responded to questions by reminding Martial that he cannot expect to simply walk away.

‘I would like to be in Los Angeles now and I am in San Jose,’ he said. ‘You cannot do whatever you want in life. I would love to arrive in LA, to train in LA and play all my five matches in LA, and then don’t travel, don’t change hotel and then go back to Manchester. I would like to play (United’s opening Premier League fixture) against Leicester on Sunday, but I have to play on Friday. So you don’t get always in life what you want.’

Martial, whose partner Melanie Da Cruz is due to give birth this week, has recently cancelled plans to move out of their city centre apartment and into a family home in Cheshire. He has grown frustrated with his lack of first-team opportunities under Mourinho after United brought in Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Romelu Lukaku and Alexis Sanchez, and missed out on a place in France’s World Cup-winning squad this summer.

Mourinho may have to persuade the board to sell Martial and bring in another winger. United tried to sign Ivan Perisic last summer and the Inter Milan winger’s performances as Croatia reached the World Cup final in Russia will only encourage Mourinho to try again. Asked if he still wants to make more signings before next month’s deadline, he said: ‘One thing is what I want and another thing is what is going to happen.’

Martial made little impact at the Levi’s Stadium despite playing the whole of a 0-0 draw against a San Jose Earthquakes side rooted to the bottom of the MLS Western Conference. Sanchez looked considerably sharper despite missing the first week of the US tour due to visa problems, but he could not prevent United becoming the first club to fail to score against the Earthquakes in 10 months.

Mourinho admitted afterwards that being without so many World Cup stars has turned it into a difficult tour. Nemanja Matic trained for the first time at the weekend, and David de Gea and Fred are due in camp, but none of them are expected to play in the third game against AC Milan in LA.

‘For me, it’s a very strange pre-season,’ said Mourinho. ‘How many of these players are going to play the majority of the games in the Premier League? You couldn’t count them on one hand. Pre-season, you try to be motivated and motivate the people around you, but it’s not easy. I did some pre-season with some players but to have 10 players away is very strange. So the motivation is to try to train the best we can, to give the players minutes, to give young players an opportunity to develop, and that’s it.’

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