On December 3, 2023, Manchester United were tested at St. James’ Park against in-form Newcastle for the Premier League title. Ten Haag’s team suffers from the pressure of the “miners” but endures. Until the 55th minute, though. Then the hosts open the scoring and the Dutch coach immediately makes two changes. Inside Anthony, Hoylund and outside Martial and Rashford, with the coach furious with the French centre-forward for his almost indifferent presence in the game, despite the constant instructions he gave him.
The following matchday United faced Bournemouth at Old Trafford and suffered a heavy 0-3 defeat. Anthony Martial started but was again missing. He was replaced by Hollywood in the 56th minute and this was to be his last game with the “red devils”, having completed more than three years without playing a full 90 minutes in the Premier League! Ten Haag then had him between the bench and the platform until the Frenchman was injured and on January 23, 2024 he underwent groin surgery and was sidelined for three months. He returned to training at the end of April but Ten Haag informed him that he was not counting on him.
Waiting in vain for the Arabs
However, the administration wanted to renew his contract for another year so that he would not be released and could get some money, but the Frenchman did not accept. Since then he was looking to find a team but it was not possible. The proposals he expected did not satisfy him, while the Arabs did not deal with him, also because of the many injuries he had.
At the beginning of September, Martial traveled to Brazil to negotiate his transfer to Flamengo, but according to the Brazilian media, both the history of injuries of the 29-year-old ace and mainly his exorbitant financial demands led to the transfer being a wreck. According to the reports of the days, Martial was asking the Brazilian club, among other things, for 4 million euros a year in a closed three-year contract! A week ago it is said that Fenerbahce submitted a proposal for a three-year contract instead of 10 million euros.
Fortunately for him, AEK was able to give him a helping hand with a hegemonic three-year contract for the data of the “doubleheader” (almost 3 million euros per year). Indicative is the fact that faced with the risk of being without a team for another four months, Martial lowered his demands even more (initially he was looking for a team that would pay him 10 million per year, he didn’t find one, the margins were narrowing, he asked for 4 of Flamengo to finally drop to 3 million with AEK). Money that the management offered him in the hope that even at the age of 29, the Frenchman will be able to restart his career.
Anthony Martial made the big leap in the summer of 2015 when Manchester United bought him from Monaco for €60 million. Center forward who can also play peripherally but mainly on the left wing, with very good technical training, it is difficult to get the ball from him, he sees the field but he is also a player who does not put tension in his game even if bodies fall on the field, which was irritating always coaches and fans of his team. His pluses are the rich experiences in his career, the minuses are his frequent injuries. It is certainly the big bet for this year’s AEK, which, in addition, has no European obligations and the matches and fatigue will be much shorter for the Frenchman.
Between bench and platform
In the Premier League he made an ideal start but when the injuries started he started to lose ground and from the 2020-21 season he had a downward trend, reaching the point where he moved more between the bench and the stand. What if his first two years in England had both Sir Alex Ferguson and Manchester manager Louis van Gaal singing his praises? Martial never reached the level everyone believed because, as the British Media wrote, “hard work in training was never his strong point.”
In the 2022-23 season he was loaned to Sevilla but it was as if he never went. He had a total of nine appearances, without a goal. At United he recorded a total of 317 matches scoring 90 goals. With the French national team he had 40 appearances and the last time he played was in 2021 as a substitute in two matches of the World Cup 2022 qualifiers. He also played as a substitute in two group matches in the final phase of Euro 2016.
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