Manchester United have reportedly opened discussions over a new contract with wantaway French international Anthony Martial.
According to a report from Daily Mirror, Manchester United forward Anthony Martial has been offered a new five-year contract by the club, despite the Frenchman’s fallout with manager Jose Mourinho.
The 22-year old has only twelve months left on his current contract with Manchester United, although the Red Devils have the option to extend it by another year. The club hierarchy are keen to tie down the 22-year old on a long-term deal at Old Trafford and are understood to have opened discussions with his representatives.
The report claims that the offer that United have tabled would see Martial’s stay at the club extended till the summer of 2023, on wages of £130,000-a-week, and the player too has shown interest in signing the deal.
Martial arrived at Manchester United from AS Monaco in the summer of 2015, in a deal worth £36 million, then a world record for a teenager, with the fee potentially rising to £57 million with add-ons. Having enjoyed a spectacular debut campaign, the Frenchman has struggled to reproduce the same form under Mourinho, since his appointment in 2016.
With regular game-time not forthcoming and having been on the receiving end of a number of public criticisms from the Portuguese, Martial was intent on leaving the club this summer, with his agent confirming as much a couple of months ago.
The pair’s relationship fractured further when Mourinho fined the 22-year old, after he left United’s US tour to attend the birth of his child but failed to rejoin the squad. The manager was willing to offload the player in order to generate funds but the board were reluctant to sanction a sale.
Martial was reported to have had a change of heart over his stance recently though, with the French international now understood be keen on staying put at United and fighting for his place in the first-team. And the developments in contract talks further indicate that the player is set to remain at Old Trafford, despite recent interest from La Liga club Sevilla.
Martial has made only one appearance in the ongoing season so far, in the 3-2 loss at the hands of Brighton & Hove Albion, during which he put in an abject display and was hauled off at the hour mark. The 22-year old was completely dropped from the matchday squad as United were trounced 0-3 at home by Tottenham Hotspur on Monday night.
There is no doubt over the immense potential that the Frenchman possesses, but after two underwhelming campaigns he will need to step up in a big way, if he is to grow into the world-class player that Manchester United had hoped he would become.
And the show of faith in him from the club, by offering a new long-term contract, could act as a catalyst in helping Martial turn things around.
