Anthony Martial seemed to be on his way out of Manchester United last summer after a heated up pre-season rift with Jose Mourinho, but the French internationals’ surge in form has made him the manager’s favorite player with Jose Mourinho beckoning on the France international to commit his future to the Manchester club.
Martial and Jose Mourinho seemed to have a rift after the Frenchman missed out of the Les Bleus squad that lifted the 2018 World Cup. The rift between the duos lingered throughout the pre-season and got to the boiling point when Martial flew back to London without clearance from the Portuguese tactician. Martial claimed that he attended to his wife who just put to birth, while Jose Mourinho tried to calm boiling nerves. The Portuguese tactician however responded indirectly with the Red Devils stepping up chase for Chelsea’s Willian and Inter’s Ivan Perisic. Despite losing out on both deals, the former Chelsea manager determined to flush Martial out of the team, placed the Frenchman on transfer list with Sevilla reported as the final haven for the former Monaco Forward who seems to have fallen out of favour with Red Devil’s trainer.
Despite staring at a departure from the theatre of dreams, Martial continued to play down exit talks with the youngster reported declaring his intention of continuing to feature for the Red Devils. Why Jose Mourinho looked the other way, club’s Vice-Chariman Ed Woodward looked at the Frenchman and vetoed his seemingly exit-bound fate.
Martial since the incident has gone from zero to hero to ensure that the Red Devils recover from their league woes. The Frenchman incidentally has been the single player that has ensured that Jose Mourinho remains Red Devil’s boss.
The Frenchman has netted five crucial goals in the club’s last four league games to ensure that Manchester United avoid defeat. Martial netted the leveler in the 3-2 comeback victory over Newcastle in a game that seemed to be make or break for Jose Mourinho at the Old Trafford. The Frenchman did not stop there as his brace in the 2-2 draw with Chelsea was enough to ensure that the overall dominance of the London team did not reflect in the score-line at the end of 90 minutes. The Frenchman netted the second goal in the 2-1 victory against Everton and the goal proved to be the match winning goal as Everton pulled one back. Martial at Vitality stadium proved that he was really in form as he was the right place and time to convert Alexis Sanchez assist into the bottom corner as Manchester United came from a goal down to win 2-1.
Martial’s form has attracted a lot of praise from the media as well as teammates, with Nemanja Matic revealing that the former Monaco forward is yet to reach his peak. Jose Mourinho has shown his delight with the player’s performance, as he has featured in the club’s consecutive games since his goal against Newcastle. The former Chelsea and Real Madrid tactician has called on the club’s management to extend terms of contracts. Manchester United hierarchy in appreciation of his performance is reported to be offering the Frenchman a contract extension which could see him earn twice his current weekly wages. Though the deal appears to be stalling due to the current weekly wage of teammate Alexis Sanchez which is currently at £400,000, media reports has it that the Old Trafford club are willing to offer the youngster as high as £200,000 to ensure he commits to the club on long-term basis
This is the current fate of a player who seemed exit-bound barely three months ago.