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Football

03rd Aug 2018

Manchester United want to swap Anthony Martial for Bayern Munich defender

Manchester United are looking for to offload Martial and want to bring in a new central defender before the end of the window

Reuben Pinder

Martial seems certain to leave United this summer

Signing a central defender is top priority for Manchester United, and so is finding a new home for Anthony Martial.

The forward, who can play as a conventional number 9, or from the left wing, has a fractious relationship with United boss José Mourinho and it will only have got worse over the course of pre-season.

After Martial flew home from the pre-season tour for the birth of his second child and stayed with the mother in Paris, opting not to return to America, Mourinho was not happy and the club reportedly fined him £180,000.

The situation between Martial and the club now seems irreparable and a transfer appears inevitable, but his destination is still up in the air. Tottenham are interested, while United would like to take Toby Alderweireld from them, but a spanner has been thrown in the works as Sport Bild report that United would be willing to sell Martial to Bayern Munich in exchange for Jerome Boateng.

Bayern are willing to let Boateng go, but incrediby, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge doesn’t seem keen on taking Martial.

He told Sport Bild: “We have four wingers: Ribéry, Robben, Coman and Gnabry. And Davies comes in January. Adding more is what some clubs do, but we must cause problems for the coach.”

Ribéry is now 35 years old, while Martial is 22 with a bright future ahead of him. Bayern may regret passing up this opportunity in the near future.