Ralf Rangnick confirmed on Sunday evening that Anthony Martial wants to leave Manchester United. In conversation with the BBC does the manager acknowledge that the attacker has no future with the Red Devils, although he also indicates that the clubs are currently not in the queue for the 26-year-old Frenchman. In the second week of December, Martial already hinted that he wanted to leave United.
“Anthony wants to leave”, Rangnick starts off. “He told me he thinks the time has come for a change. I said to him: ‘Listen, as long as there’s no club that shows an interest in you… And it shouldn’t just be in the interest of the player, it should also serve the club’s interest.’ So far, to my knowledge, there has been no offer from any other club and as long as there has been he will remain,” United manager told journalist Simon Stone.
Martial has fallen in the rankings at the club and has only been home twice in the Premier League this season. His contract will run until the summer of 2024 and even includes an option for an extra year, but his agent Philippe Lamboley was in talks with him on December 10. Sky Sports already looking forward to a winter transfer from his client. “Anthony wants to leave the club in January. He just has to play. He doesn’t want to stay with the club in January. I will talk to the club about it soon,” Lamboley made clear in a short response.
The prospects for Martial have diminished in particular with the arrival of Cristiano Ronaldo. Edinson Cavani is currently out injured but was ranked above Martial when he was fit. Thus, after five and a half years, Martial’s employment at Old Trafford seems to be coming to an end. The now 26-year-old Frenchman came over from AS Monaco in September 2015 for at least fifty million euros, an amount that increased by ten million euros via a contractual bonus. Martial has played 268 official games since his arrival, scoring 79 times.
The striker is one of the last two purchases from Louis van Gaal who still plays for Manchester United; the other is Luke Shaw, who signed a year earlier. They both became the most expensive teenagers ever at the time of their transfer. Van Gaal called it “ridiculous” in 2015 to have to pay so much money for Martial and said he “didn’t buy the attacker for himself”. “Martial has been bought for the long term and especially for my successor: Ryan Giggs”, he looked into the crystal ball. Giggs was his assistant at the time and never eventually became head coach.