Manchester United
Premier League • England
Man Utd told to let attacker leave before Old Trafford situation ‘turns ugly’
Manchester United have been urged to let Anthony Martial go “at any cost” in January before the situation “turns ugly”.
United interim boss Ralf Rangnick revealed earlier this week that Martial has asked to leave Old Trafford. And what’s more the German coach “understands” the striker’s desire to depart, but he has insisted any transfer must be right for the club.
Talks between the pair last week resulted in Rangnick accepting that Martial’s time looks to be up. But he made it clear that no formal offer had yet been made by any club, despite interest from Sevilla.
Sky Sports claim the player’s preference is to join Sevilla on loan but there is also interest from Barcelona and Juventus.
Rangnick though remains cautious over sanctioning a transfer for the 26-year-old.
“He explained to me he’s been at Manchester United now for the last seven years and he feels it’s the right time for a change, to go somewhere else,” said Rangnick.
“I think in a way this is understandable, I could follow his thoughts. But, on the other hand, it’s also important to see the situation of the club; we have Covid times, we have three competitions in which we still have high ambitions and want to be as successful as we can be.”
£50m for Man Utd duo Martial, Lingard
Manchester United want £50m for out-of-favour forwards Anthony Martial and Jesse Lingard in the January transfer window.
But former West Ham and Celtic striker Frank McAvennie thinks Rangnick should cut Martial loose, regardless of the cost.
“He’s never done that much, has he?” McAvennie told Football Insider.
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‘You can’t have players who don’t want to be there’
“I seem to remember him having a really good season in his early days there but that was four or five years ago now.
“Since then he’s hardly set the world on fire. I imagine he’s on massive wages and we all know he cost a fair amount.
“That’s fine if you are contributing every week and are scoring goals. Martial isn’t doing that and hasn’t done it for a long time.
“If an offer comes in I would let him go, at any cost. On a basic level, you can’t have players who don’t want to be there.
“It’s a recipe for disaster. Situations like this can turn ugly very quickly and they won’t want that to happen.
“Martial is earning big money, he wants to leave, he’s not playing, he’s probably upset, you have to let him go.”
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