In 2015, In a span of ten days, a 19-year-old Anthony Martial went from a nobody at AS Monaco to being a fan favourite at Manchester United after scoring an incredible solo goal against their arch-rivals Liverpool in front of the Stretford End at Old Trafford on his debut. Fast forward three years, under the management of Jose Mourinho, Anthony Martial is on the verge of leaving Manchester United after constantly being sidelined.
Where did it go all wrong for the French Youngster?
Anthony Martial broke into United’s first team straight away and had an early impact by scoring 4 goals in 3 games. He was one of the best players for Manchester United in the 2015-16 season. He ended up winning the FIFA Golden Boy award in 2015 and finished as United’s top scorer with 17 goals in all competitions. After an incredible first season, Martial was expected to do great things at Man United but unfortunately, things didn’t go as planned.
Martial retained his place in the starting lineup under the new management of Jose Mourinho but was dropped from the team after a string of underwhelming performances. His dip in form might have been linked to his personal life. Anthony and his ex-wife had split up in 2016 April. His ex-wife believed that his big money move to Manchester ruined their marriage and that he couldn’t keep his feet on the ground. This change in attitude reflected in his game and later resulted in his exclusion from the national team as well.
Martial did finish the season on a high by winning FA Cup title. But Mourinho believed that he was still affected by his off-field distractions when the fresh campaign began and he must be managed properly.
After a couple of in and out months, Martial was rumoured to leave the club in January 2017. But Martial was determined to fight for his position and told the fans to not listen to the newspapers. Things, however, did not seem to change much as the Frenchman continued to underperform.
Martial had a promising start to the 2017-18 season and it looked like he was finding his old form back, but with the arrival of Alexis Sanchez, he was pushed out of the starting line-up. Martial started only 4 times after February in the PL and scored zero goals.
Mourinho believes that his approach towards the game is too casual and wastes the opportunities to shine. The relationship between the Frenchman and the manager has always been shaky with Mourinho always criticising him. Recently, when Martial left the pre-season tour of US for the birth of his second child, the Portuguese boss publicly lashed out at him for not returning back on time. Jose Mourinho confirmed that Martial was the first and the only player he fined at Manchester United in 2 years.
Even when one sees Martial play in a match, he looks uninterested most of the times and not fully committed to the game. He fails to track back while defending which is a huge drawback in his game. Mourinho likes his players to track back and commit to defence. Martial has failed to fit in Mou’s system and the way things are going it won’t be long before either one of them leaves United.
However, it’s still not over for him, as he is still just 22 years old and has a lot of energy left in him. He can still revive his career and grow to his full potential.