Five reasons why Anthony Martial's future doesn't lie at Old Trafford

With Martial once again in the news after being criticized by Mourinho for the umpteenth time, speculation has become rife over his transfer away from the club.

It is not the first time Martial's future at Old Trafford would be up for debate, neither is it the first time Mourinho would publicly hide him, with his agent hinting that his client had turned down a contract extension, and submitted a transfer request to the club owing to his lack of playing time.

Mourinho himself has done little to quell those rumors, stating after Manchester United's 2-1 victory over Real Madrid in the International Champions Cup that he did not know if the Frenchman would return to the club after his departure from the team's pre-season training base, to be with his partner for the arrival of their child. When quizzed on Martial's future, Mourinho said :

"Anthony Martial? Is better for (press officer) Karen (Shotbolt) to answer if she wants to answer". Pressed further he replied: "I don't know"

His action of leaving the camp itself was questioned by Mourinho, with the 55-year-old Portuguese manager criticizing Martial for failing to return to camp, saying;

"Anthony Martial has the baby and after the baby is born - beautiful baby, full of health, thank God - he should be here and he is not here.

To which Anthony Martial replied that family comes first taking to his Twitter account to state:

"Thank you for all your messages. My little Swan is fine. For the mother it was more difficult, but thank God she is better now"

Before going on to add: "Sorry but my family will always come before everything... Back tomorrow in Manchester".

With increased speculation over his exit from Manchester United, the time is right for Martial to leave Old Trafford. These are five reasons why Martial should seriously consider leaving Manchester United.

#5 His career has stagnated

Anthony Martial has become a bit-part player at Manchester United

Anthony Martial was signed by Louis Van Gaal in 2015 for £36m which rose to £57.6m, making him the most expensive teenager in football history at that time.

He had performed extra-ordinarily well at Monaco in the Ligue 1, leading to Manchester United expending such a huge outlay to get him, and was later named the Golden Boy (awarded to the adjudged best player under the age of 21 in a given year) winner for 2015.

Martial performed creditably well in his debut season at Old Trafford, making 31 Premier League appearances, of which 28 were starts and scoring 11 goals, including a wonderful solo effort on his Manchester United debut in a 3-1 home victory over Liverpool, having come on as a substitute.

With Van Gaal's replaced by Mourinho however, Martial saw his relevance reduce, as the Poruguese manager preferred an attack comprising Mata, Ibrahimovic and Lingard, in the 2016/2017 season, and a trident of Sanchez, Lukaku and Lingard last season.

Martial was reduced to a bit-part role in the team, making just 18 league starts in each of Mourinho's seasons in charge, scoring 4 and 9 goals respectively.

Anthony Martial's career has stagnated at Manchester United, as his lack of game time has cost him opportunities, including his place in the France national team. The 22-year-old was not a part of France's victorious World Cup campaign, and needs to leave Old Trafford in search of regular playing time to get his career back on track after being in the the doldrums for the last two seasons at Manchester United.

#4 For Family reasons

Italy v France - International Friendly

Anthony is a father, dad to two young children, and beyond his responsibilities as a professional footballer, as he specified, his duties as a father come first.

The mothers of his two daughters along with his children are based in France, having found it difficult to adapt to the culture in England, with former partner Samantha Jacquelinet suggesting that his transfer to Manchester United played a major role in their break-up.

Owing to his duties as a father, Martial would have to continuously travel to Paris to spend time with his daughters and partner, and combining the constant travels with his professional obligations in England could prove problematic and have a negative impact on his career.

With PSG reportedly keen on his services, and his family based in the French capital, coupled with his unsettlement at Old Trafford, the time could be right to call it quits on his United sojourn.

#3 For the sake of his international future

Anthony Martial missed out on France's World Cup

victory

It is no longer news that France are world champions, owing to their impressive display in Russia, but the 22-year-old Martial was not a part of the victory parade, having been dropped by French coach Didier Deschamps, due to his lethargic performances at United.

Martial made his international debut in 2015, after his spectacular performance for Monaco in Ligue 1, and since then, he has gone on to make 18 appearances for Les Bleus, scoring a solitary goal.

However, of those 18 caps, only 3 have come since 2017, as Martial's progress with his national team has been remarkably stalled since Mourinho's arrival at Old Trafford. He made six appearances for France in 2015, following that up with an impressive 9 in 2016, making the 23-man squad for EURO 2016 on home soil. He however made just 2 and 1 appearances in 2017 and 2018 respectively, only making it to the standby list of Deschamp's World Cup winning squad.

Martial was earmarked as one of the young players to usher France into its next era of dominance, but he has faltered massively in that role, watching as Kylian Mbappe, Ousmane Dembele, Benjamin Pavard and Corentin Tolisso overtook him in the hierarchy of the French national team.

To put it in perspective, Martial had won 16 caps by the time Mbappe made his international debut in March 2017, since then, the 19-year-old PSG forward has gone on to make 22 appearances for France, and was one of the standout performers in their World Cup triumph, while Martial has won just two caps in the same timeframe.

Representing your nation is one of the special moments in a player's career, and winning the World Cup in your national colors is the highest achievement, but Martial is falling out of relevance to the French national team, and moving away from Manchester United could be the only way to halt his international downward spiral.

#2 To fulfill his early career promise

Martial showed a lot of promise at Monaco

Martial was adjudged to be the best player in the world under the age of 21 in 2015, being named the Golden Boy winner that year, owing to his impressive performance in helping Monaco to a third-place finish in Ligue 1 and quarterfinal appearance in the Champions League, in only their second season since promotion from Ligue 2 in 2013.

He was involved in more league goals (17) than any other player under the age of 21, scoring 11 and providing a further 6 assists in 2015.

Martial beat off competition from the likes of Marco Asensio and Dele Alli to the prestigious award, but while the pair have gone on to become mainstays in their respective teams, Martial has fallen out of contention at both his club and country.

A lot was expected from Martial after his Golden Boy win in 2015, but has so far failed to meet those expectations, and if he is to avoid following the path of other Golden Boy winners such as Mario Balotelli, Alexander Pato and Anderson who failed to deliver on their early promise, he has to find a way out of Old Trafford.

#1 He doesn't have the trust of his manager

Martial does not have faith in Martial

One of the key components to a young player's developments is the utmost trust and belief in his abilities. We've seen countless examples of a manager shielding his young stars from the glaring snares of the press, and deflecting criticism away from them even when they are under-performing, including Guardiola with Messi, Sir Alex Ferguson with Ronaldo, Arsene Wenger with Henry but to name a few. These players had a protective shield in their managers when they were at their most vulnerable and still revere their managers even after achieving superstardom.

Mistakes are bound to happen in a player's career, even to the greatest of all, and it is a supportive manager's duty to make his young players understand this fact, and aid them in moving on from the setback, as players at a young age haven't developed the necessary emotional maturity to deflect negative opinions from an unforgiving media and football fans. If not properly handled, the player might never recover from an early career setback, and fail to fulfill his potential.

Young players need all the support they can get to aid in their development, and the last thing they need is a non-supportive and constantly criticizing manager.

Martial was 20 when Mourinho arrived at Old Trafford, and since then has seen his playing time reduced. In addition to falling out of contention, Martial has also seen almost all aspects of his career criticized, from his work ethic to his dedication and most recently, decision to spend time with his family.

Jose Mourinho has shown a distinct distrust of developing players at Manchester United, including Luke Shaw, Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial who have all regressed under the Portuguese manager, as he always uses every opportunity to slam them in public.

Martial doesn't seem to have the confidence of his manager, and at just 22, he still has a lot of football and development left ahead of him, however, the development of his undoubted potential would have to be achieved at a different club to Manchester United, and more importantly a different manager from Jose Mourinho.