You could almost sense the defender thinking how can a kid do that as some Monaco teenager ripped him apart with a drop of the shoulder and a flash of silk. The brazenness of that youngster made him one of the most coveted talents in Ligue 1 at just 19, and the vultures were circling. When Anthony Martial completed his move to Manchester United, Monaco named a price nobody had ever paid for a teenager before.
The £36 million deal, with add-ons that could carry it to £58 million, was a colossal gamble on potential. For one glorious evening, it looked like the bargain of the decade. Martial came off the bench against Liverpool on his debut, collected the ball on the left, glided inside, sent Martin Skrtel the wrong way and stroked it past the goalkeeper. Old Trafford rose as one. For a moment it was as if United had reincarnated Thierry Henry in a red shirt. Except this was someone new entirely.
From Dream Start to Drifting
The Frenchman scored in his first four games and finished that debut campaign as the club’s top scorer with 17 goals. The trajectory pointed straight upward. Then it stalled. The arrival of Jose Mourinho, the signing of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and a steady shunt out to the left flank slowly stripped him of the central role where he was most dangerous. Injuries followed, confidence dipped, and a player who once terrified defenders began to look like a passenger.
He ended last season with just eight goals from 42 appearances. Now, with Marcus Rashford emerging as a genuine rival for minutes and the £75 million arrival of Romelu Lukaku occupying the central striking role, the path forward for Anthony Martial at Manchester United looks narrower than ever. The boy who arrived as the future suddenly finds himself fighting to prove he is even part of the present.
The Talent Was Never the Question
Anyone doubting the ability need only have watched the pre-season friendly against Real Madrid. Martial took two-time Champions League-winning right-back Dani Carvajal and made him look like a Sunday League defender, dribbling clean past him before laying United’s goal on a plate for Jesse Lingard. The talent is not in dispute. It never has been. The question is whether the mentality can match it.
This is where Mourinho enters the equation, and the answer is genuinely uncertain. The Portuguese is one of the finest man-managers the game has produced, capable of forging mentally bulletproof players through methods few others would dare attempt. But his approach cuts both ways. For every player he has hardened, there is a Pedro Leon left broken by the same treatment. The Portuguese tactician’s make-or-break style will either galvanise the Frenchman or hollow him out, and at 21, this season may decide which.
Why Lukaku Could Be a Blessing
The instinct is to read the Lukaku signing as a vote of no confidence. It may prove the opposite. By removing the burden of leading the line, United have given the former Monaco man room to rediscover himself without the weight of being the prime forward. There is precedent. When Mourinho loaned Emmanuel Adebayor to Real Madrid, it took the pressure off Karim Benzema, who promptly rejuvenated his career. The same dynamic could free Martial to play with the fearlessness that made his name.
This is the crossroads. Should he seize this season, Anthony Martial could yet etch his name among the modern Manchester United greats. Should he drift again, it may quietly mark the beginning of the end at Old Trafford. The talent bought him time. Now only temperament will decide what he does with it.
