Anthony Martial’s Manchester United situation is no surprise

Anthony Martial and his agent hit Manchester United with a bombshell on Friday past and before their narrow victory over Dean Smith’s men on Saturday. However, it comes with little to almost no surprise that the forward wants out at Old Trafford.

Before Friday’s Anthony Martial revelation, you probably were wondering what happened to him and where he had disappeared to. And because of absenteeism from the starting XI or matchday squad, the forward will now pursue a transfer move during the January window.

His agent, Philippe Lamboley, came out and spoke openly about his client and that a move from United is in his best interest.

Philippe Lamboley on Martial:

"Anthony wishes to leave the club in January. He just needs to play. He doesn’t want to stay in January and I will speak to the club soon. (Via: skysports.com)"

Anthony Martial has fallen further down the pecking order

The Red Devils have roughly played about 2070 minutes of football (23 games) across all competitions and Martial has only featured 10 times, four of them which were starts — his minutes on the pitch amounting to just 360 minutes — even Van de Been has more time on the field with 367 minutes played (that’s a lot for a player in DVB’s situation).

This is mainly down to Man United’s summer additions of Jadon Sancho and Cristiano Ronaldo. Since the pair have come in and have been added to the roster, Martial’s chances of regular game time evaporated immediately.

He was already behind those at the club: Marcus Rashford, Mason Greenwood, and Edinson Cavani. Now he has to fight another two players for a starting berth? Something not worth the risk for what’s coming next on the international stage.

Why Anthony Martial needs to leave

With the FIFA World Cup 2022 around the corner, players want to book their ticket to Qatar with their respective countries and Martial is no exception to this. At 26-years-old, time is running out for him and his showings at major tournaments — and having already missed the last two — he will want to certainly force his way into the training squad one way or another.

Especially with a country like France that is stacked with world-class talent in his department, hence the need to play well consistently at the highest level of football.

The World Cup, hate it or love it, creates that extra bit of drama during the January transfer window. Players who are on the fringe at their individual clubs and know they have a shot at making the squad but must play will find a way out, loan or permanent.

Martial was also absent from the matchday squad over the weekend when Manchester United travelled to Carrow Road and took all three points back with them home after Ronaldo converted from the spot for his seventh of the season.