He's falling further and further down the pecking order
Anthony Martial's Manchester United career has never been plain sailing.
When he arrived six years ago, he hit the ground running and enjoyed a productive season playing either through the middle or down the left wing, interchanging with a teenage Marcus Rashford.
But in the years since, his form has suffered from significant dips. He hasn't been helped by managerial changes, nor by the big name centre-forwards who've arrived at the club in that time, nor by his own versatility which has contributed to his failure to nail down a spot in the starting XI.
He now finds himself quite far down the pecking order in both positions, with Edinson Cavani, Mason Greenwood and Cristiano Ronaldo ahead of him in the fight to play as a number 9 - not to mention Marcus Rashford once he has fully recovered from shoulder surgery - and Jadon Sancho, Paul Pogba, and the aforementioned Rashford and Greenwood also preferred on the left wing.
It would probably make sense for both the club and the player if he was able to leave, even on loan, to try to rediscover some form and confidence.
And according to French newspaper L'Equipe, a loan offer did come in from Martial's former club Lyon, as sporting director Juninho looks to bolster the Ligue 1 side's attack after the departure of Memphis Depay.
But L'Equipe claim Martial refused the offer, and Lyon turned their attention to Franck Ribery, before Juninho decided against signing the 38-year-old.
Martial will now have to spend much of the 21/22 season on Manchester United's bench, before presumably United will look to offload him in January or next summer to offset some of the huge wages they'll be paying Cristiano Ronaldo.
