One in, one out?
Anthony Martial has been told, in no uncertain terms, that if he continues to pass up opportunities then he will find himself out of the reckoning in the Manchester United first team.
After a stellar debut season in English football, Martial has struggled for anything resembling consistency under new manager Jose Mourinho and the Frenchman’s shortcomings have seen him reduced to a bit-part role, having started just three of United’s last 13 games.
Mourinho has now publicly stated that Martial has failed to take any of those three opportunities and the United boss isn’t sure how many more he will be afforded before a hungrier young player takes his place.
“You have one opportunity, you have two, you have three – if you don’t bite then somebody comes and takes the bait,” Mourinho said of the 20-year-old.
The Portuguese also claimed that Martial may have been more comfortable playing with previous manager Louis van Gaal’s slower, more ponderous philosophy and that he could be struggling to adapt to the change in strategy.
“First of all the teams are very different. The way the team played last season – I’m not saying better or worse, just different – was probably more adaptive to Anthony,” Mourinho said.
“He was probably more comfortable playing that way, at that intensity, at that rate of ball possession and ball circulation.
“Probably he also needs some time but in our squad, especially in these positions, we have Mkhitaryan, Lingard, Depay, Mata, Rashford.”
Martial played no part of United’s 4-0 drubbing of Feyenoord on Thursday night and Mourinho didn’t even try to suggest that the youngster was carrying a knock.
Mourinho outright admitted that he had been dropped so that he could offer a rare start to Henrikh Mkhitaryan.
“He was okay for this game, it was just an option,” he said.
“He played last Sunday, I cannot play with 12 players, I cannot use on the bench 19 or 20.
“You wanted to see Mkhitaryan, I wanted too. I cannot play all of them at the same time so it was just an option.”
Another cause for concern as far as Martial is concerned are growing rumours that Mourinho will once again attempt to entice Chelsea’s Willian from Stamford Bridge to Old Trafford.
The London side’s star player last season, Willian has dropped down the pecking order since the arrival of Antonio Conte. In fact he hasn’t started a Premier League game since the 2-0 win over Hull on October 1.
The Daily Star amongst others report that Mourinho will make a January move for the £40m-rated playmaker. Where this will leave Martial remains to be seen.
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