Anthony Martial might not be having a great season thus far, but the footballing world has not lost sight of the potential the player possesses and if news from the Sun is to be believed, Spanish heavyweights Barcelona and Real Madrid are keen to better the transfer fee that Manchester United paid for him to bring him to the glorious shores of Spain.
The news agency has reported that the Manchester United outcast is attracting interest from the above-mentioned clubs and both the clubs are keen to add him to the riches of talent that exists for a fee believed to be in the region of £60 million, which is a bit over the £57.6 million that United will have to pay AS Monaco if the Frenchman achieved certain performance related benchmarks.
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Colombian superstar James Rodriguez is believed to be the key player in the ongoing negotiations for the player, with Real Madrid looking to sell him for the right fee and Manchester United could cash in on the opportunity to bring him to Manchester by arranging a swap deal.
Martial made an instant impact at the Old Trafford, scoring a wonderful goal against arch-rivals Liverpool on his debut and then went on to become a critical part of the side’s attack under Louis van Gaal. The former Monaco man made 47 appearances in his debut season, scoring 17 goals and grabbed 8 assists to lend further support to his credentials and things were only expected to improve in the current season under new manager Jose Mourinho.
However, that has not been the case for the man who turns 21 today. After the arrival of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, he was asked to vacate the coveted number 9 jersey for the Swede, which was deemed disrespectful by his camp, leaving his future with the club uncertain.
He has found playing time hard to come by and has been restricted to just 14 appearances this season. Several of them have come from the bench and that has intensified the rumors that the Golden Boy award winner might seek a change of address to ensure that his development as a footballer is not disrupted.
Mourinho’s continued persistence with a rather underperforming Zlatan Ibrahimovic and the emergence of Marcus Rashford has further dented the player’s hopes of finding regular playing time.
What has left us bewildered is the clubs that he has been linked with and we cannot see any reason to assume that the player’s game time troubles could be resolved by moving to the mentioned clubs as they are both talent rich and despite the glamor involved, it might not serve the purpose.
