The Frenchman was deemed the next big player coming from the Under-21’s of the France setup and after having spent two seasons at Monaco, Manchester United cashed in and signed Martial for 36 million Euros which could raise to 58 million. It was the highest amount paid for a teenager at that time. But after having spent more than 5 seasons with the red half of Manchester, Martial has become a shadow of himself and has been one of the poorest performers at the club.
His statuesque stance and surly body language have been familiar with the United supporters for years. It seems very hard to understand how someone with bundles of talent cannot utilize and provide more of himself towards his manager. The antithesis of Martial is Mbappe, his countryman who plays for Paris St.Germain. The passion, energy, drive and resolve are visible in Mbappe’s play which Martial lacks.
The statistics above show that the general consensus of a striker improving with time is thrown out of the window as Martial’s performance have been depreciating over time. With the signing of Cavani at the start of this season, it was an indication that Martial needed to up the ante which has not happened. The 34-year-old Uruguayan is the antithesis of Martial at the club. The pressing, ability to understand one’s surroundings, making intelligent movements and runs, working hard to make things happen is all what Cavani represents.
Martial received the Golden Ball in 2015 for his exploits and Man Utd’s Players player of the year in 2019-20 for scoring 23 goals across all competitions in 48 matches in that season. The Red Devils finished 3rd in that season and it did seem that Martial would kick on from there but ALAS.
During Mourinho’s stint, Martial was not deployed in his favoured striker position but was rather played on the wings, where his performances were poor. This was a reason for his drop in form but once Ole arrived, he gave him the freedom as a striker which reaped rewards as he scored the most goals in 2019/20 season, even though Man United were nowhere near their best in that season. In the current season he has scored 7 times in 31 appearances which in all fairness cannot be justified.
How Martial can hit top gear once again is to be seen and with Cavani leading the line along with Rashford getting better with each performance, Martial’s time seems to be running out.
Only time will tell whether we see a change in approach by the Frenchman in order to boost his career or not.
