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Football

18th Jul 2018

José Mourinho appears to confirm Anthony Martial will stay at Manchester United this summer

It looks as though he might stay put despite rumours suggetsing he would be sold this summer

Reuben Pinder

It hasn’t all gone to plan for Martial at United

When he arrived at Old Trafford, Anthony Martial became an instant fan favourite. His winning goal against Liverpool, when he spun Martin Skrtel and slotted the ball past Simon Mignolet with an Henry-esque finish before celebrarting arms outstretched, head nodding, signalling that a star had arrived, instantly endeared him to the United faithful.

But since then it hasn’t all been plain sailing. He has been shunted from centre-forward to the left wing, and hasn’t been able to put together a sustained run of form over the past two years due to being in and out of the team. His chances of reclaiming a guaranteed starting spot looked to have diminished when Alexis Sánchez arrived in January.

As a result he was strongly linked with a move away from United this summer, although the club set an extremely high asking price.

However that could all be about to change, as José Mourinho indicated at Wednesday’s press conference that Martial would be starting next season.

Mourinho stating that he intends to start next season with Alexis, Juan Mata and Martial in the front line could indicate that Martial is being moved to the right wing, or that Sánchez will move inside to the centre, or even that Martial will start as the centre-forward ahead of Romelu Lukaku. That seems unlikely though, given Lukaku’s importance to United last season and the expensive fee they paid Everton for him.

It is good news for many United fans though, who are keen to keep hold of the Frenchman, and are hopefult that given a run of games he will show more of the form that he did under Louis van Gaal.