Former Manchester United defender-turned-pundit Gary Neville tore into Anthony Martial’s record as a United player after yet another anonymous display against Newcastle United.
The former England international did not mince his words when he claimed the player “should not be leading the line in any competition” for United.
Neville was astounded when hearing about Martial’s paltry record of 89 goals in 311 games for the club. Sometimes it is staggering to think the French international has been at the Theatre of Dreams since 2015.
Martial certainly did nothing to change manager Erik ten Hag’s mind about him starting games more often. The whole team put in a shocking performance in a humbling defeat in the last 16 of the Carabao Cup.
The striker only managed 22 passes and zero shots on goal in the 64 minutes he was on the pitch before being replaced by young Dane, Rasmus Hojlund.
And of those 22 passes, only 15 reached their intended target. Sadly, there were no dribble attempts either, as this used to be one of the Frenchman’s most exciting traits.
It has to be said however that there have been bright sparks for Martial over his Man United career but they have been far too sparse to justify staying at the club for so long. As Neville exasperated last night, “They still can’t get him out of the club!”
Nonetheless, once upon time it was a contrasting picture. Martial arrived in the summer of 2015. It was a surprise deadline day acquisition but an exciting one. The striker won the Golden Boy award as he was the best under-21 player in Europe in December of that year.
The then young striker helped the club win the FA Cup by scoring the winner in the semi-final and also finishing the season with 17 goals.
Nobody could forget his stunning debut where he scored a beautiful solo goal in a win against Liverpool moments after coming off the bench.
A cocktail of injuries and manager changes blighted Martial’s career since then with only the 2019/20 season living up to the hype as he scored 23 goals for the Red Devils and finished top scorer in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s debut season as manager. He has not hit double figures since.
The Frenchman is now a shell of the player he once was where his first touch, dribbling prowess and finishing accuracy have seemingly abandoned him.
The Sky Sports pundit claimed that the fact that Martial remains at the club is an incredible “failing of the football recruitment”. The former Man United captain also asserted that new signing Rasmus Hojlund is suffering because of Martial’s presence.
Neville explained that Hojlund has shown “real promise” but there is too much pressure placed on his shoulders. He compared the situation to a bygone era where Hojlund would be playing alongside the experience and quality of player like Dwight Yorke, Andy Cole or even the legendary Eric Cantona. The Dane should have such luck.
The question is what does the club now do with Martial. There are evidently no buyers in the market, or the player would have almost certainly be sold already.
Additionally, Ten Hag’s side has saddled itself with a problem of having no senior goalscorers outside of Marcus Rashford. Even that statement is questionable as the Englishman has struggled to be even half the player he was last season.
One thing is for sure. Martial’s once promising Red Devils career has petered out into nothingness and he will almost certainly have to restart his career at a significantly smaller club.