Manchester United are reluctantly expecting Anthony Martial to stay at the club next season because of a lack of interest in the forward.
The Frenchman signed for United for Β£36million as an exciting 19-year-old from Monaco in 2015 but has failed to live up to expectations at Old Trafford.
He moved to SevillaΒ on loan in January after struggling for game time at Old Trafford in the first half of the campaign but the Spanish side are not willing to make his move permanent.
It appears interest in Martial, who is available to be sold this summer, is particularly low and United are now expecting him to be at the cub next season, according to the Manchester Evening News.
It’s claimed ‘nobody is breaking down the door’ to sign the 26-year-old, who is still under contract at Old Trafford until 2024 and earns Β£240,000-a-week.
When he joined Sevilla on loan, Premier League sides Newcastle and Tottenham both made tentative approaches while Juventus and Barcelona were interested but did not want to take on his salary.
Martial has scored nine goals across his last two seasons in club football and finds himself way down the pecking order at Old Trafford behind Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Anthony Elanga.
Erik ten Hag wants to sign another centre forward to ease the goal-scoring burden on Cristiano Ronaldo and is also keen on Antony from Ajax, another player that would occupy a place in attack ahead of Martial.
The Dutchman reportedly accepts that he will have to find a place for Martial in his plans for the coming season if no club is willing to take the Frenchman.
Martial is due to report for pre-season training under Ten Hag at Carrington next week when those players who have not been on international duty this summer return to action.
Pre-season will be huge for Martial and he must impress his new manager in training and friendlies to have any chance of reviving his United career, which has stagnated in the last few years.
After netting a superb individual effort against United’s arch-rivals Liverpool on his home debut, and the winner in an FA Cup semi-final in his first season, the difficulties began to set in for the talented forward.
Save for the second half of the 2019-20 season, he has struggled for consistency.
United’s interim boss Ralf Rangnick shockingly revealed after United’s 2-2 draw at Aston Villa in January that Martial had refused to link up with the squad for the Premier League clash in the Midlands, but the Frenchman denied those claims.
There is more excitement at United, however, over the prospect of Rashford reinvigorating his United career under the club’s new manager.
Rashford’s future at the club had been called into question but the England star has posted videos of him working out in the off-season and he’s reportedly ‘raring to go’.
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