Mikael Silvestre has told Anthony Martial not to ‘do a Pogba’ and fight for his place in Jose Mourinho’s plans at Manchester United.
Former Arsenal and Manchester United defender Mikael Silvestre has urged Anthony Martial to stay patient during his tough times at the club, rather than switching sides like Paul Pogba did in 2012.
Pogba grew disgruntled due to not getting chances in the first team he thought he deserved, and made a move to Juventus where he went on to become a world-beater. The Manchester United hierarchy were made to swallow their pride as they paid the highest amount in footballing history to lure the Frenchman back to the club.
In an interview with talkSPORT, Silvestre said: “He [Martial] had a very good season and adaptation to the Premier League and United, he had been their top scorer last season, but this year he’s a different player.”
Silvestre also spoke about the arrival of Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the summer and how that had an effect on Martial and restricted him to the role of a fringe player in the squad. He stated:
“You have to remember the episode of getting his number [nine shirt taken away] for [Zlatan] Ibrahimovic to take. He was not happy about that.
We always say, when you have a good first season, it’s hard to [continue performing]. I hope he keeps patient, and won’t do a Pogba, like he did and head to Juventus.”
Martial was a big-money deadline day signing at the start of last season, and hand an instant impact to life in Manchester. Due to the under-performing Radamel Falcao, the French attacker quickly went on to become a focal point of the Red Devils attack.
The former Monaco star scored 11 goals in 31 league appearances and went on to provide another four assists. He started out playing centrally, but was moved to the wings after the resurgence of attacking prodigy Marcus Rashford.
However, this season under Jose Mourinho, Martial has fallen further down in the pecking order, moreover due to the arrival of a certain Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Despite being 35, the Swede has been a regular part of Mourinho’s plans.
Summer signing Henrikh Mkhitaryan, too, has become a constant in the playing eleven, giving Mourinho a number of options to choose from. Martial has been pitted against the likes of Jesse Lingard, Juan Mata, Marcus Rashford and even Wayne Rooney for a spot on the wings.
Due to this, he has made only 9 league starts and has been linked with a move away from Old Trafford. However, the Frenchman has cleared the air on his plans, stating that he has committed his future to the Manchester outfit.