1. Antony Martial
Antony Martial is a product of Olympique Lyon. The French forward spent four years in the east of the country before switching to Monaco during the summer of 2013. The 22-year-old started to hit headlines at the French club. He is blessed with the uncanny abilities to beat the defenders with pace and trickery and bagging in goals.
Witnessing his extraordinary potential, former Manchester United manager Louis Van Gaal decided to break the bank for the young forward. It cost £56m for the English giants to lure him to Old Trafford. He announced his debut in style by scoring a fantastic solo goal against arch-rivals Liverpool in the Premier League.
Martial was the integral cog of Van Gaal’s attacking front line and netted 17 goals in his debut campaign. But, failure to finish in a Champions League place forced Manchester United to sack their manager.
Jose Mourinho was named as the new gaffer of the Red Devils. But, he has struggled to adapt to the Portuguese manager’s style who has a habit of overloading the forwards with hefty defensive duties. Martial wanted to leave last summer, with Juventus and Bayern Munich reportedly showing interest, but United wanted a fee upwards £60m.
2. David de Gea
Born in Madrid, David De Gea rose up through the ranks of Atletico Madrid. He made his senior debut in 2009 and played a big part in Atletico’s Europa League and Super Cup success in 2010. He played for his boyhood club 84 times in these two years.
David De Gea grew up admiring Manchester United legend Peter Schmeichel. Sir Alex Ferguson flew to Madrid to make this deal happen when Edwin Van Der Sar decided to hang up his boots. During the summer of 2011, the English giants signed the Atletico keeper for a fee of 18 million when he was just 19.
The 27-year-old struggled to mark his name during his early days at Old Trafford. Becoming mature as the days went by, he has gone on to become as one of the best goalkeepers in the world right now and has swept the Clubs player of the season four times in four consecutive seasons. He has won four major trophies with Manchester United, which includes a Premier League title, FA Cup, League Cup and Europa League.
Manager Jose Mourinho is confident that De Gea will sign a new contract, but there has been total silence in De Gea’s camp. Should he refuse to sign a new contract, there will be a huge affray between plenty of top clubs to sign him.