POLL: Negotiation over Martial's contract extension have stalled | Times: United to hold fresh talks

[puNANI]

I wish we could just play Sanchez in behind Lukaku and keep Martial out left. Sanchez is one of our most incisive passers and best goal scorer. He'd be perfect in behind Lukaku.

 

[Pexbo]

Poor off the ball, does not run into space, so-so finishing, always needs the ball to come into his feet, dodgy stamina and weak mentality.

Will still produce moments of magic but very, very frustrating. Don't see the comparison with De Bruyne or Salah. He doesn't have the same workrate. Unless something changes in his head.

His off the ball movement infuriates me.

As an attacker, you’ve got two options and both are hard graft. You either spend your energy pressing the opposition and forcing mistakes directly or you spend your energy moving into space, getting behind defenders, peeling away from them, pulling them out of position and earning that moment where they’ve switched off for a second and you’ve done them.


Martial doesn’t really commit to either. He prefers to look for space but his moment to look for space is always at the point where we’ve got the ball and are looking for options. It’s usually too late by then because at that point the defenders sole task is to focus on Martial’s movement.

It’s what sets the great players apart from the good. Messi and Ronaldo don’t pick up good positions by chance, they’re the focus of the opposition so they have to work twice as hard as anyone else off the ball just to find space and yet they still do it.

That’s what Martial needs to work on the most, reading of play and off the ball work, if he figures that out he will be unstoppable.

 

[Red Warrior 84]

Martial had a great first year with LVG period, He was free of defencive contribution as a left attacking forward. Now with Mourinho who had a strict tactics that the wings should cover for the left back and that what Martial suffered from. Also Martial love to play as a wide winger straight to the corner, While with Mourinho tactic the winger should cut inside and play the falling ball, there a lot to talk why Martial performance is not matching his potentials one of these things is that Mourinho like to play with a target man to initiate counter attacks, unfortunately Martial lacks experience and not smart enough to play between the lines when compared to Sanchez.
To be honest he has lot to learn and Mourinho wants to play him as a right winger which he never been good at. Eventually he could be a great player if he can perfect what Mourinho wants from him and plays like a joker forward other than that i see he can kill his talent if he lacks the mentality to do so and we can lose such a young talent just like we did back the days with Pogba.

 

[El Zoido]

I can’t see him leaving but I wouldn’t be too sad if he did. He needs to go up another level, I’m not sure he’s capable.

 

[Red Warrior 84]

I wish we could just play Sanchez in behind Lukaku and keep Martial out left. Sanchez is one of our most incisive passers and best goal scorer. He'd be perfect in behind Lukaku.

I couldn’t agree more, that was my wish from the first time we signed Sanchez.
But i think he would interferes with Pogba new role and there is a lot behind the scene action going on we as a fan don’t see.

 

[backtowhiteside]

Need to keep these world class players,not selling them to Real Madrid. Martial is an upcoming world class player and Pogba already is. Both still very young.

De Gea the Savior nr1 in the world and Sanchez also world class. Bailly very very good defender and also high hopes for Rashford.

Morinho is one of the best managers in the world so give him some more money to spend before we tell him to feck of, but we need to keep them top class players and Martial is absolutely one of them. Keep him on the left, I would like to see something like this:

Martial Rashford Mata

Pogba Sanchez

 

[Cloud7]

FFS how can we seriously potentially be on the verge of losing our two most talented outfield players (Pogs and Martial).

 

[Varun]

His off the ball movement infuriates me.

As an attacker, you’ve got two options and both are hard graft. You either spend your energy pressing the opposition and forcing mistakes directly or you spend your energy moving into space, getting behind defenders, peeling away from them, pulling them out of position and earning that moment where they’ve switched off for a second and you’ve done them.


Martial doesn’t really commit to either. He prefers to look for space but his moment to look for space is always at the point where we’ve got the ball and are looking for options. It’s usually too late by then because at that point the defenders sole task is to focus on Martial’s movement.

It’s what sets the great players apart from the good. Messi and Ronaldo don’t pick up good positions by chance, they’re the focus of the opposition so they have to work twice as hard as anyone else off the ball just to find space and yet they still do it.

That’s what Martial needs to work on the most, reading of play and off the ball work, if he figures that out he will be unstoppable.

Yes, his movement needs work. He'd take his game to a different level if he improved on that. Its also on our coaches to work on that though, our lack of movement to give the guy on the ball options in general is pathetic.

 

[Classical Mechanic]

So he is negotiating a new contract and stories of him being linked to another club appear. Standard negotiating tactic.

 

[Santoryo]

Yes, his movement needs work. He'd take his game to a different level if he improved on that. Its also on our coaches to work on that though, our lack of movement to give the guy on the ball options in general is pathetic.

I think this is something a lot of people fail to grasp. For some reason people think that a professional player being paid millions should only be expected to be instructed on tactics but the rest to already know or figure out by themselves.

Martial should have been taught good movements, get trained on it. He's young and young players improve by being trained and given guidance, not just expected to produce on all aspects of the game and just given tactical instructions.

For the most part a good coach should see Martial movements as a weaker part of his game and coach him on it aka improve him.

 

[Ish]

Miserable over-rated arse.

His taking on 3 defenders and leaving the ball behind him won't be missed.

If that’s how you feel about Martial, I shudder to think what you think of the rest of the squad.

 

[Adisa]

Lots of snowflakes in this thread.
The latest reports sort of confirm he wants to stay.
He is disappointed, that after an initial meeting, no formal offer has been made.
That offer will come, the club isn't run by idiots.

 

[Di Maria's angel]

If Martial played with the same tenacity as Sanchez, he'd already be a world beater. I do think that he's lazy, but not in the way the people may think I'm suggesting. It's not about his running style or effort off the ball, but rather in never really maximising his ability. I criticised Rashford after the BC cup game for his selfishness, however, if Martial was half as selfish as Rashford, he'd be on around 20 goals this season but he, sometimes, strikes me as not really interested.

 

[Number1]

The only way you could truly believe this is if you dislike him, or you don't watch us. How any United fan could be okay with losing such a dangerous and entertaining attacker is beyond me. Discounting his great productivity, he at the very least provides some entertainment in an otherwise (at times) rather uninspiring team.

I've come to the conclusion there's 2 parallel universes, one where Martial is this fantastic world beater and another where he's inconstant and frustrating and this thread is in-between, hence the mixed opinions on him.

Unfortunately i live in the shit Martial universe, the one where he tries runs gets dispossessed/constantly misses good chances/gives the ball away/never tracks back and in general just looks not arsed.

 

[harms]

I'm still on the fence with Martial, i don't see him reaching the heights of Salah/KDB (previous 'talents' Jose failed with), so i don't see him leaving as a massive kick in the balls as he's fairly replaceable and upgradable for that matter.

Martial is much better than Salah was at his age, what are you basing your opinion on?

 

[amolbhatia50k]

Yes, his movement needs work. He'd take his game to a different level if he improved on that. Its also on our coaches to work on that though, our lack of movement to give the guy on the ball options in general is pathetic.

Yes. And besides, how many footballers at the age of 22? He is already pretty superb for his age. I truly believe if you put faith in him and emphasize on your attack (as I feel any big club should) then Martial will do the business. And he definitely has done so this season despite generally being given a tough treatment (not to be confused for unfair). That is, until Sanchezs arrival changed things.

In Martial's own interest he would be correct to consider his options and seek assurances from the manager. He was playing really well this season. And all of a sudden he sees a Mourinho team in which the CF and LW seem untouchable. RW is probably Martial's worst position and Mourinho likes a hard working 10 or a three man midfield as the next option.

 

[Cassidy]

I heard that Mkhitaryan was signed as a sweetener to Raiola to box off the Ibrahimovic and Ibra deals.

Regarding Pogba, Mourinho clearly doesn’t want him, or at least the Juventus version that provoked the transfer fee; he may have seen the potential for him to be a dominant all round midfielder, but I suspect the Pogba return was engineered by Woodward regardless of who the manager was (there were even rumours that LVG’s reluctance to take him further made his position untenable). With Kante available for a third of the price, I imagine Jose would have chosen him instead had he not had to comply with the commercial angle too.

Mourinho generally prefers energy and mobility from his most advanced ‘central’ midfielder in the Premier League, either in a 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1; he opted for Lampard at Chelsea, Oscar over De Bruyne and Mata at Chelsea and now generally Lingard over Mkhi, Mata or even Pogba at United. He prefers a goal threat and penetrative runner rather than an artist in that role. That’s why I feel someone like Ramsey would prosper in that position for this team, and also why I’m perplexed as to why he’s sabotaged Martial’s season rather than simply playing the tenacious Alexis ahead of Lingard instead.

Regarding Martial, he’s a huge talent, more so than Sterling and Salah, two players who’ve excelled this season - in the City or Liverpool team he’d be immense. But he’s not, and his development has/will continue to stall under Jose. That’s probably why he’s evaluating his options.

He seems like a quiet kid who needs to be coached into confidence, almost like a young De Bruyne; modern Mourinho has no interest in doing that it’s seems.

Again then the club need to take a serious look at the manager.
I don't believe he has been able to get the best out of ANY of his signing so far, maybe Bailly actually, but thats it, and that is pretty poor.

 

[Data]

Again then the club need to take a serious look at the manager.
I don't believe he has been able to get the best out of ANY of his signing so far, maybe Bailly actually, but thats it, and that is pretty poor.

I doubt that will happen.
Only to pump in money whenever Mou said so

 

[Cassidy]

Anyway Martial will sign a new deal likely in the summer, our club isn't stupid

 

[izec]

Sticking my neck out here, i would be surprised if he would still be a United player in 2 years time

 

[RuudTom83]

I like Martial, but none of the current squad are pulling up trees every week* and individually they are not even close to the great players under SAF.

So any of them can go tbh, modern football is a joke with agents stirring shit if there client sits on the bench for a few games. I can’t be arsed caring about any of them.


*DDG excluded

 

[SwSw]

I'm not exactly worried with the whole situation considering Martial's agent isn't Raiola. So, negotiations won't be tough if both sides are willing to meet half way.

 

[Kapardin]

Lots of snowflakes in this thread.
The latest reports sort of confirm he wants to stay.
He is disappointed, that after an initial meeting, no formal offer has been made.
That offer will come, the club isn't run by idiots.

Yes, there is concern, but no need to panic. Martial should also be shrewd enough to know that he is not going to get what he's getting here anywhere else - a big club, a global platform for his marketing team, decent wages which could rise to astronomical levels in the future and his brand promotions. All these things factor into a player's decision-making.

The only other clubs that can offer him all or most of these are Spain's big two and at the moment, he is not good enough to be considered by them. So he won't be actively seeking a move if we give him assurances of playing time.

 

[Sterling Archer]

His agent should try flirting publicly with the idea of joining Manchester United...that usually does the job for getting the best terms in a contract renewal.

 

[Fluctuation0161]

Sanchez already is a top top player

Sanchez is 30 next year and can play on the right. Would be criminally short sighted to lose Martial when he could be played with Sanchez.

 

[Decomposing In Paris]

Martial and Pogba are similar in that on their day, they walk the most competitive league in the world. Those days don't happen often enough to justify sacrificing other talented players for them though. I'd like to see both of them playing closer to the oppositions goal, but neither of them should have more power than the manager.

 

[Renegade]

Surprised people would be happy to see him leave. Bet these same people would of been happy to sell De Gea when he was rotating with lindegaard in the early years. I can see it now, Martial leaving and doing wonders at which ever club signed him.

 

[Eire Red United]

Any need for a poll here?

 

[Web of Bissaka]

Is the poll a joke?
.
Sell Martial, get Dybala.

 

[Irrational.]

If true, would be really disappointing to hear.

From an observational perspective since he arrived, I get the feeling that Martial is a player that needs to feel trusted and made an integral part of the team. We saw that in his debut season where he thrived, and in his preferred position.

Since Jose arrived, he's had his shirt number taken off him (may appear to be a menial thing to some), and has been shunted out wide - and now with the arrival of Sanchez he's even lost his second preferred position in the team. This gives the impression that the club (or Jose) don't value him as much as the other superstar signings.

I can see where he's coming from, and unless his position in the team is assured then I can possibly see him leaving soon.

 

[Walters_19_MuFc]

Be gutted if Martial leaves. However, if Moruinho's going to leave him on the bench, especially based on how he's been this season, then I wouldn't blame him.

Yes, he's trying to keep Sanchez happy, but Martial is the future. At only 22, there's still plenty more to come from such a talent like Martial.

Actually, we've got a core of some bright young talents, who haven't even hit their prime yet. They should be the future of this club.

Bailly
Rashford
Shaw
Martial
Pogba
Lindelof
McTominay
Lukaku
Lingard

 

[SwSw]

If we got the right amount of money and got a world class replacement I wont lose a wink.

His attitude is poor and he's nowhere near the level some of our fans believe. He's very talented but I don't think he'll ever become truly world class.

Miserable over-rated arse.

His taking on 3 defenders and leaving the ball behind him won't be missed.

Poor off the ball, does not run into space, so-so finishing, always needs the ball to come into his feet, dodgy stamina and weak mentality.

Will still produce moments of magic but very, very frustrating. Don't see the comparison with De Bruyne or Salah. He doesn't have the same workrate. Unless something changes in his head.

Unbelievable.

Our best dribbler and loved his reaction when he assisted Lukaku for his goal in the dying minutes. Baffles me that people want him out.

This is a boy, mind you, a boy who left his country and came over to Manchester, which for your information, isn't the nicest place to live in. He had personal problems last year but he has toughen up and improved this year. I remembered people were praising him for the change in form and attitude but now suddenly there are bumps in negotiation and there are some who wants him out?

Looking from the outside, indeed it looks disappointing that Jose have shifted Martial to the right. However, we have no idea what goes on inside Carrington. For all we know, they could probably have a conversation about the temporary shift in position.

Let's also not forget that:
1. Martial who started the game on the right was restored to the left during the second half.
2. If Jose didn't rate him, he wouldn't have played him that often.
3. The tough love that Jose showed Shaw, Martial and probably now Pogba shows the believe Jose have in them. Just look at Blind and Darmian if you want examples of players who never gets mentioned.

 

[Walters_19_MuFc]

You're such drama queens. He's had a couple of games on the right. If it doesn't work we'll try something else.

The Sanchez thing is obviously an afterthought in all those articles. The negotiations stalled in December, for whatever reason, when we had no intention of buying anybody. The Alexis link is just to get you mugs to click.

What has Mourinho tried instead?

 

[El-Manos]

Not feckin happy about this. United better sort this out.

 

[Adisa]

Poll is close.

 

[pocco]

Things just aren't going well for us these days. Almost feels like we're cursed - no matter who we sign nothing seems to work for us . This guy should have been amazing here but three years down the line he's not fulfilling his potential and we're in a contract stand off.

It feels like things aren't going to work out for him here unless things change massively, but we're seemingly not heading in the right direction and have now brought in another huge obstacle in Sanchez. What is annoying is knowing he'll tear it up at some of the other clubs.

 

[Number1]

I vote 'no' because i don't think he's as good as what people think.

I think United can do better, i think we have much better already at our club (Rashford/Sanchez) never mind other players who we can sign to replace him from other clubs and i think it would be best getting some money back and 'i say get some money back' because i don't believe United will get the £60m or so United paid for him.

No club is going to pay that for Martial.

 

[Banat]

Martial is a world class talent and I will seriously be pissed if we lose him.
Hate to admit, but the club is to blame on this one.
First, we strip him of his number with Ibra's arrival, then we shift him to accommodate other players, then we shift him again with Sanchez arrival, and in the end, we bench him.
How can he have any confidence at all?

 

[Member 90678]

I think this is something a lot of people fail to grasp. For some reason people think that a professional player being paid millions should only be expected to be instructed on tactics but the rest to already know or figure out by themselves.

Martial should have been taught good movements, get trained on it. He's young and young players improve by being trained and given guidance, not just expected to produce on all aspects of the game and just given tactical instructions.

For the most part a good coach should see Martial movements as a weaker part of his game and coach him on it aka improve him.

Regarding him being taught movement,what do you think happened to him for the previous years of his life as a footballer before he joined united?
He will have been coached at a fantastic level through all his development stages.

I believe that having great movement is not a taught skill but a natural ability to read the game and find clever bits of space or being half a yard quicker in your head than your opponent making that little bit of space.
For me martial has neither and I don' think it can be taught,he might mature and change his game but at the moment I won't loose sleep if he leaves,seen plenty of prospects come and go at united.

 

[pocco]

I vote 'no' because i don't think he's as good as what people think.

I think United can do better, i think we have much better already at our club (Rashford/Sanchez) never mind other players who we can sign to replace him from other clubs and i think it would be best getting some money back and 'i say get some money back', because i don't believe United will get the £60m or so United paid for him.

No club is going to pay that for Martial.

You can't say Martial isn't as good as people think and then start going on about Rashford. Surely they're both in the same boat, but I think many would accept Martial is the better of the two.