Should we give up on Anthony Martial?

[MyOnlySolskjaer]

Now 6 years at the club, his best moments have come in streaks. I think many of us gave up hope on him for the entirety of last season. Cavani also showed us what a proper striker looks like.

I just don't see him as a guy that has the fight in him. As things stand there also isn't much of a place for him but that can easily change with form.

FW: Cavani (Greenwood, Martial)
LW: Rashford (Sancho, Martial, James, Pogba)
RW: Sancho (Greenwood, Diallo, James)

There's a player in there but unfortunately, we haven't seen it consistently.


What do we do with him?

 

[BAMSOLA]

Yes.

 

[Zlatattack]

As soon as we can find a buyer for him, we should sell him.

 

[Adisa]

No.

 

[JJ12]

Sell him for an appropriate fee. £50m?

 

[Cee90]

Not unless we get a good offer for him.

Otherwise he can still be an important part of our squad.

 

[r3idy]

Not seeing a future for him if I am being honest

 

[Trigg]

I'd keep him personally. As frustrating as he is he's still a talented footballer. I don't think centre forward is best position, I think Rashford given time or Greenwood are better suited to that role.

 

[roonster09]

Depends. What's the point of selling him if we can't get a good price, we have to pay more more to sign his replacement. We need to add great players so that there will be a competition for places and improves the squad.

 

[VP89]

We aren't in a position to choose. He has a few years on a big contract, no club wants to buy him so we are stuck with hoping he becomes the player we thought he would.

 

[acnumber9]

If we could get a good fee that will go towards strengthening midfield then definitely. He’s currently second choice striker and probably third choice left winger. Could soon find himself behind Greenwood for striker too. If not, then we might as well keep him.

 

[Plant0x84]

Nope, nor will we. He has a good relationship with Ole and is Joel’s favourite player. He not long signed a improved contract. He’s going nowhere.
Plus he’s going to be useful on the left if Marcus had his surgery at the start of the season, otherwise it’ll be endless Dan James and we know how much the caf loves him.

 

[hobbers]

If he doesn't mind being being Cavani, Sancho, Greenwood and Rashford in the pecking order, fine.

Not like there's any club out there stupid enough to match his £250k/week wages anyway.

 

[L1nk]

If we get a good offer we should snap it up. He's 26, obviously not old by any stretch of the imagination, but how long do we keep giving him to "realise his potential", I honestly don't think he will ever fully realise it.

 

[OmarUnited4ever]

Reluctantly no, i was a member of Martial FC, not anymore, but i am still a lil bit hopeful he might turn it around, but it's a do or die for him next season, i don't think Ole will be able to accommodate him if he doesn't turn up when relied upon .

 

[Random Task]

He's spent 6 years at the club and flattered to deceive for the majority of the time, bar maybe one season where he finished top scorer. He needs replacing as soon as a viable target becomes available. Grealish would be ideal, but unfortunately he looks City bound.

 

[el3mel]

I don't care. He'll never be good enough for a main spot. Squad player at best.

So either we're content with this or not.

 

[charlenefan]

He's more than good enough to be a squad player/back up so unless he wants to leave I'd keep him with the caveat being he's not going to be a moody cnut.... yeah sell him

 

[RedDevilRoshi]

Yes.

Far too inconsistent.

 

[Random Task]

Not unless we get a good offer for him.

Otherwise he can still be an important part of our squad.

Can't see Martial being content warming the bench for the likes of Rashford, Cavani, Greenwood and Sancho, which is exactly what he'll be doing should he decide to stay.

 

[Jibbs]

Get Varane, give Pogba a new contract,
Offer PSG 100m plus Martial for Mbappe. Sack Ole, appoint Zidane.

 

[Gandalf]

I would not give up on him as such, I think we can accept he will never be the answer as our starting striker but he has plenty of value as a rotational player that can cover a few roles in attack. I understand that is not the role he sees for himself though and he wants to be a number 9 somewhere so I would not want us to stand in his way if a fair offer comes in but we should not be giving him away.

 

[ClaytonBlackmoorLeftPeg]

The question should be “who hasn’t given up on Martial?”

lots of players go stale, and a new start kick starts their career. That’s exactly what he needs.

best all round if he moves on if we can find someone to take him for a decent fee.

if we need to raise funds to buy new players, he’s 100% expendable.

 

[Ali Dia]

I can easily see him being another Lukaku banging them in every week if he finds a club where he’s the main guy and the managers builds him up and plays to his strengths. I can’t blame Ole for losing patience at this point though. Some of that stuff last season was absolutely feeble. I did feel like he was turning a corner last season and then he got injured, he likes the second half of the season. No excuses though. This is probably his very last season here unless he turns it right around. I hope he can. Thing is I think we probably want haaland and Greenwood to be our strikers long term so they’ll want him to go out on loan and become a 50 million euro player again rather than just be a squad player losing value here. I reckon that’s the play. I also think that’s why we are in for Kamaldeen.

 

[RyRy11]

Yeah, he needs regular game time at a slightly smaller club, he strikes me as the type that would prefer to be a big fish in a small pond.

 

[Mcking]

Our fans set the pecking order on paper before the start of every season, and it almost never turn out that way. I don't think you could categorically say that he is behind anyone in the pecking order right until the season starts.

Rashford could very well miss the start of the season, Pogba has never been a winger and could be needed in midfield, Sancho has not really performed outside of the Bundesliga, James is not as good, Diallo is still a kid, and Cavani probably can't play every game.

There's every chance he nails down a place if he can find the form we all know he is capable of. Don't see the rush to force him out of the club.

 

[Shimo]

Not give up on him but, if we sign Sancho and then yes he should be one we would be okay with selling for a very good fee so we can use to strengthen in other areas.

Even if we sign Sancho though, hope we can keep him. He has been up and down in his time here but, still the quality of player we want to be able to rotate in. We've run the likes of Rashford into the ground, Cavani will have injuries and Greenwood needs time to become a #9. Ole doesn't make subs half the time because he knows the quality is just not there.

Also, think it would be good to actually give Rashford competition for that left side. His numbers were quite good but, a lot of overall poor performances but, he knows his position is safe as no one else close enough, Martial certainly would be.

 

[Wednesday at Stoke]

Yes and I’m one of his bigger fans. You can teach a player new skills and add consistency with age but you cannot change his attitude. Martial has always been that frustratingly talented yet mopey, attention deficit player ever since he came onto the scene at Monaco.

He’s on his fourth manager now after working with Jardim, Van Gaal, Mourinho and Solskjær. You can add Deschamos with the national team and Giggs as caretaker to that list. Some gave him the carrot like LvG and Ole, some gave him the stick like Jose and Deschamps and it hasn’t changed him one bit.

He won’t change now and it’s wise to sell him when he can net something.

 

[Leftback99]

No. Short memories.

In his last league game he was rated our 2nd best player on here in the 2-0 win over City. If he gets back on track he's a good squad option at worst. Something we clearly lacked at the end of the season.

He's been written off because Cavani had a good month when he was injured.

 

[Oranges038]

Yeah.

Should never have worn the shirt after the Sheffield United loss where he was just walking round.

 

[RedDevil@84]

Oh yes. Sell him ASAP.

There seem to be a hundred factors that distract his game. Cut our losses and move him on.

 

[Gonçalo Motta]

He already gave up, so why not.
Sometimes I see a world-class player in there but then I blink and it's gone.

 

[McGrathsipan]

Not unless we get a good offer for him.

Otherwise he can still be an important part of our squad.

That makes no sense.

 

[Canucantona20]

Technically he’s better than Rashford but Rashford has a better work rate

 

[youmeletsfly]

Depends. What's the point of selling him if we can't get a good price, we have to pay more more to sign his replacement. We need to add great players so that there will be a competition for places and improves the squad.

The point is not having a bench warmer on 250 grand a week.
In terms of competition for places, we know a few things about him:
- when someone takes his place, he sulks instead of pushing forward
- he usually misses a few months a season through injuries
- he usually misses a few months a season just strolling around the pitch

If we need to sell Pogba because he's inconsistent then we need to send Martial to the fecking moon.

 

[AgentP]

No one will be looking to buy him because of his huge wages. So we are stuck with him for now. The best we can do is use him as a bench option until his form improves.

The next time he has a great run of form and clubs start showing interest in him, we should jump at the opportunity and sell him.

 

[H10]

Yes. I was one of his biggest fans (even making a video asking if he's world class now ), and after his 23 goal season 2 years ago, thought he would finally make the jump to being world class...but this season he has taken 2 steps back and been terrible.

 

[davidmichael]

As our first choice starting striker ? Yes for me, should we sell him whilst we need to fill priority positions ? No.

A right sided forward, a centre back and a defensive midfielder are priority positions and if we manage to fill all three of them this summer that’ll be an unreal transfer window but it’ll certainly use up every penny we have to spend including sales.

As a back up or squad player Martial is a good option but he has to be used as back up to Cavani and Greenwood, if in summer 2022 we have the chance to move Martial on whilst bringing in an upgrade then that’ll be the time to move him on but not just for the sake of doing it.

 

[Buster15]

No one will be looking to buy him because of his huge wages. So we are stuck with him for now. The best we can do is use him as a bench option until his form improves.

The next time he has a great run of form and clubs start showing interest in him, we should jump at the opportunity and sell him.

You are so right.
He will play a few good games next season and in the rest, will perform at an absolute minimum possible level and continue to be as frustrating as normal while happily drawing massive wages.

 

[Andycoleno9]

No. He is first cover for both Cavani and Rash. But this season he must step up. No question about it.