Real Madrid's £135 million Cristiano Ronaldo replacement told to leave current club, Barcelona and Manchester United to pull off stunning swap deal and more: Transfer Roundup, 30 January 2019

By Shambhu Ajith

Modified Jan 30, 2019 14:06 GMT

Florentino Perez will be buzzed to hear this

Manchester United on the verge of agreeing new contract with Martial

Anthony Martial celebrates after scoring the decisive goal against Arsenal in the FA Cup tie

The Red Devils are close to agreeing a new long-term contract with mercurial winger Anthony Martial, according to BBC. The 23-year-old has been in talks with the club over a potential contract extension for quite a while now and it looks like the parties are close to coming to an agreement.

Martial was tipped to leave this past summer after Mourinho decided that he had had enough with the Frenchman's inconsistency. However, Martial was one of the star performers for Mourinho this season before his sacking. He has convinced the Old Trafford faithful of his importance in the current setup and is now ready to commit to United.

The former AS Monaco youngster's current contract at Manchester United is set to expire in 2020 after the Red Devils decided to activate a one-year extension clause in his initial agreement.

About the author

Shambhu is a European and international football journalist at Sportskeeda who focuses on previews, listicles and news articles. An ardent Manchester United supporter since before his teenage years, he started following the Red Devils by age 10 watching MUTV on television. Shambhu is also a highly-revered rapper and a playback singer on Spotify, having a whopping 1 million monthly listeners.

For his articles, Shambhu believes in triple-checking every piece of information, relying on trusted websites like Transfermarkt and Opta, and staying away from speculative publications. He believes that his law degree helped him to be more articulate and meticulous with his content and one of his core strengths is seamlessly involving emotion in his write-ups owing to the love for the sport. For Sportskeeda, has done exclusive interviews with Spanish legends Gaizka Mendieta and Fernando Morientes so far, and his articles boast of a huge readership of close to 50 million.

Shambhu's favorite footballer is Lionel Messi, and the Argentine attaining glory in 2022 is his favorite FIFA World Cup moment. He believes only Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland could replicate Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo's rivalry in the years to come. His favorite manager is Sir Alex Ferguson due to the Scot's unmatched longevity at the top.

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Edited by Ananthu Anil