French and former Monaco star, Anthony Martial will remain at Manchester United for the next season despite having a poor ending of the ending one that has seen ho scoring reduce.
Despite a frustrating season from the forward, United and boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will keep faith with Martial, who cost £36million rising to £58m from Monaco back in 2015.
The 23-year-old France striker, who signed a new £175,000-a-week deal back in January, has lost his way this season, with just 12 goals from 37 appearances for United.
But half of those goals came in a five-game spell back in October and November, with Martial having managed to score just twice in the Premier League in 2019.
Despite that poor return, and with his attitude having been called into question in recent weeks, Solskjaer is prepared to give Martial one more season to prove he can deliver consistently for United.
The United boss has been exasperated by Martial, knowing the forward is capable of producing more but is not prepared to give up on him just yet, despite interest from a host of Europe’s top clubs.
Solskjaer and his coaching staff believe they can still unlock Martial’s full potential but will warn him he must improve his focus and application if he is to have any chance of succeeding long-term.
Martial was left out of United’s squad for the abject 1-1 draw at relegated Huddersfield last Sunday and was overlooked in the game against Chelsea before that, which ended in the same scoreline.
Solskjaer chose to bring on Alexis Sanchez against Chelsea ahead of Martial, who remained on the bench, amid claims the United boss was unhappy with his lack of effort in the pre-match warm-up.
Martial’s representatives, USFA Management, took to Instagram this week to defend their client against criticism, posting a graphic captioned ‘Criticising is easy, the truth is on the pitch’.
The graphic showed Martial’s goals to games ratio from his first four years at Old Trafford and compared it to former United stars Ryan Giggs, David Beckham and Cristiano Ronaldo.
It showed that Martial has scored 48 goals in 173 appearances for United, at a rate of 0.28 goals per game.
That is better goals per game ratio than Giggs, who had 39 from 195, Beckham 40 from 194 and Ronaldo, 50 from 190.
Martial suffered from a lack of playing time under former United boss Jose Mourinho which saw him left out of France’s World Cup-winning squad last year as a result.