Anthony Martial was left out of Manchester United’s squad for the trip to Bayern Munich on Sunday because he was asked to undertake a double training session at Carrington instead, according to reports.
Martial’s future at Old Trafford was thrown into further doubt over the weekend after he failed to travel with the squad for their final pre-season fixture in Germany.
The 22-year-old, who has been unable to win over Jose Mourinho since his arrival in 2016, left United’s pre-season tour of America last week for the birth of his child.
The Frenchman was reportedly fined for failing to report back to training and Mourinho was said to be unhappy that he did not return for the final few days of the tour in the US.
After Martial returned to training on Friday, ESPN FC say he was told to undertake a double training session on Sunday instead of travelling with the rest of the squad to Germany. England international Marcus Rashford, an absentee from United’s pre-season tour, also returned to Carrington on Friday but the club deemed him fit enough to face Bayern yesterday.
Mourinho remains open to selling Rashford, who cost United an initial fee of £36m in 2015, but club chief Ed Woodward retains hope that he can revive his career at Old Trafford.
Premier League rivals Chelsea have expressed interest in signing the France international and Mourinho could be tempted to sanction a deal if the Brazil forward Willian was used as bait. Paris Saint-Germain, Juventus and Bayern Munich, who beat United 1-0 on Sunday, have also shown interest in striking a deal for Martial.
Mourinho, meanwhile, hailed his youthful Manchester United team who were beaten by Bundesliga giants Bayern. ‘Finally, such a difficult pre-season is over,’ the former Chelsea and Real Madrid manager told MUTV. ‘The players were, once more, brilliant. They could not have done better than what they did, fantastic experience for the boys.
struggle this season ‘There was a moment I was looking to the area and there was Axel at centre-back to left, Demetri at left wing-back, Garner in midfield on the left and Chong. ‘At the same time it was Lewandowski on Axel, Robben on Mitchell, (Leon) Goretzka on Garner and (Niklas) Sule on Chong. ‘It was fantastic, absolutely fantastic. We were playing against their best team, it was their complete squad apart from (Corentin) Tolisso.’
He was the recipient of the 2015 Golden Boy Award for the best under-21 player in Europe.
Playing youth football for Les Ulis, he began his professional career at Lyon, then transferred to AS Monaco in 2013 for a fee of €6 million. He was a member of Monaco’s squad for two seasons, and signed for Manchester United in 2015 for an initial fee of £36 million which could potentially rise to £57.6 million. This was the highest fee paid for a teenager in football history even before the potential increase. He scored in his first match for United, and was named the Premier League Player of the Month in his first month in English football.
A youth international for France from under-16 to under-21 level, Martial made his senior debut in 2015. He was named in their squad for UEFA Euro 2016.