Manchester United’s French forward Anthony Martial is a transfer target for European heavyweights Juventus and Bayern Munich.
As per reports from Italian outlet CalcioMercato, Serie A champions Juventus are keen on signing Manchester United attacker Anthony Martial on a free transfer next summer, but face competition from Bayern Munich.
The 22-year old French international is in the final year of his contract with the Red Devils and will be free to negotiate with foreign clubs from January. And Juventus want to capitalize on the situation and snap him up at the end of the season.
Martial joined United back in the summer of 2015 from AS Monaco, for an initial transfer fee of £36 million which could potentially rise to £57 million. After a scintillating debut campaign, during which he finished as the leading goal-scorer for United, the attacker has struggled to live up to the expectations.
With game time not quite forthcoming under Jose Mourinho in the past couple of campaigns, the Frenchman grew frustrated and was angling for a move away from Old Trafford this season. There was interest from United’s Premier League rivals Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur, while Bayern Munich too were considering a swoop.
Mourinho too was understood to be okay with sanctioning a sale, but the club hierarchy refused to offload the forward. And having held on to the talented attacker, United have opened talks with Martial over a new contract.
The offer that United have put forth 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 is understood to have shown interest in signing the new contract.
Speaking of the contract negotiations last week, Mourinho hinted that the talks were progressing well. The Portuguese said: “Martial – we have to wait for it to be official. At this moment it is not official.”
Juventus have developed a reputation of signing top players for free in recent years. The likes of Andrea Pirlo, Paul Pogba and more recently Sami Khedira and Emre Can were all signed up by the Bianconeri on a free transfer after their contracts had run out. And they are hoping to add Martial to that list as well.
The Italian champions are well stocked in the attacking department, having signed Cristiano Ronaldo this summer to add to the existing contingent of Paulo Dybala, Mario Mandzukic, Douglas Costa, Federico Bernardeschi and Juan Cuadrado. However, the opportunity of signing a player as talented as Martial on a free transfer would be too good to turn down.
Bayern too have their eyes on the Manchester United man, as they look for replacements to take over from the ageing duo of Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery next season.
Martial has made just one appearance in the 2018-19 season so far, that came in the shock 3-2 defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion last month.
The 22-year old is believed to be seeking talks with the manager before committing his future at Manchester United. And it remains to be seen if he will still be a Red Devil come next season or he follows club and country teammate Pogba’s path and moves to Juventus when his contract runs down.
