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Anthony Martial is into the final year of his current contract at Manchester United, and the club activated its option of extending it, but reports have emanated that the French winger has turned down the offer.
The 22-year-old winger joined Manchester United from Monaco in a potential £58.8m deal in 2015, which made him the most expensive teenager in British football at that time, and rightly so, as he arrived with a burgeoning reputation as a bright French prospect and won the prestigious Golden Boy award of that year.
After flourishing early on in his United career under Louis Van Gaal in his first season, Martial has struggled relatively in recent seasons, as Jose Mourinho has shown a distinct distrust in him, taking every opportunity to lash out at him publicly.
Manchester United is one of the biggest clubs in the world, and it is a privilege to represent the club which many players do not get, so turning down a club the size of United is almost unfathomable for a lot of players. However, Martial is justified in his decision to reject a contract extension at the club. Here are four reasons why.
#4 The club seems to be lacking direction
Manchester United was once unarguably the most dominant club in England, and one of the best in the world, as under the management of Sir Alex Ferguson, the Scotsman forged the Red Devils into an efficient machine winning a plethora of titles in his 28-year reign.
Things were understandably expected to change when Fergie stepped down in 2013, but even the most pessimistic fan would not have expected the club to sink so low.
The season following Ferguson's departure was an unmitigated disaster, as David Moyes showed he lacked the necessary wherewithal to succeed at a club the size of United.
LVG also arrived to mixed results, and when Mourinho was announced as the new manager in 2016, many believed he would be the one to restore the club to its previous heights, as the 55-year-old has a track record of delivering success wherever he has gone.
However, things have not panned out to plan, and United are as disoriented as at any point in their history. After kicking off the season with a hard fought win against Leicester, the club has wobbled since then to make the worst start ever in its Premier League history, with reports emanating that Mourinho's job is on the line.
Anthony Martial joined United in 2015 seeking a bigger platform than Monaco to showcase his talent and go on to achieve greatness, however, the disorganization and lack of direction at the club means that this would not be the case, and it might be in his best interests to depart while he can.
#3 He might never fulfill his huge potential at Manchester United
As stated earlier, Anthony Martial was named the Golden Boy of 2015, this meant he was adjudged to be the best player in the world under the age of 21, after helping the Principality outfit to a third-place finish in Ligue 1 and a quarter-final appearance in the UCL.
He was involved in more league goals (17) than any other player under the age of 21, scoring 11 and providing a further 6 assists in 2015, and beat off the likes of Dele Alli and Marco Asensio to the award. However, while the pair have gone on to become established at their clubs, Martial is still struggling to find his identity three years later.
A lot was expected from Martial after his Golden Boy win in 2015, but he has so far failed to meet those expectations, and if he is to avoid following the path of other Golden Boy winners such as Mario Balotelli, Alexander Pato and Anderson who failed to deliver on their early promise, he might have to find a way out of Old Trafford.
#2 To get back into international contention
Martial made his international debut in 2015, after his spectacular performance for Monaco in Ligue 1, and since then, he has gone on to make 18 appearances for Les Bleus, scoring a solitary goal.
However, of those 18 caps, only 3 have come since 2017, as Martial's progress with his national team has been remarkably stalled since Mourinho's arrival at Old Trafford. He made six appearances for France in 2015, following that up with an impressive 9 in 2016, making the 23-man squad for EURO 2016 on home soil.
He, however, made just 2 and 1 appearances in 2017 and 2018 respectively, and failed to make it onto Deschamp's World Cup winning squad.
Martial was earmarked as one of the young players to usher France into its next era of dominance, but he has faltered massively in that role, watching as Kylian Mbappe, Ousmane Dembele, Benjamin Pavard and Corentin Tolisso overtook him in the hierarchy of the French national team.
To put it in perspective, Martial had won 16 caps by the time Mbappe made his international debut in March 2017, since then, the 19-year-old PSG forward has gone on to make 26 appearances for France, and was one of the standout performers in their World Cup triumph, while Martial has won just two caps in the same timeframe.
Martial has fallen way down the pecking order for France at Manchester United, and the only way to get back in contention would be by playing consistently, but that might not happen at Old Trafford.
#1 He doesn't have the full confidence of his manager
When Jose Mourinho arrived at Manchester United in the summer of 2016, Anthony Martial was one of a few shining lights for the Red Devils, and he was seen as one of the players who would lead the club into the future.
However, two and a half seasons on, Martial has failed to establish himself firmly in the squad, as Mourinho has repeatedly shown not to fully trust in the abilities of the Frenchman.
Mistakes are bound to happen in a player's career, even to the greatest of all, and it is a supportive manager's duty to make his young players understand this fact, and aid them in moving on from the setback, as players at a young age haven't developed the necessary emotional maturity to deflect negative opinions from an unforgiving media and football fans. If not properly handled, the player might never recover from an early career setback, and fail to fulfill his potential.
What he found in Mourinho, however, was a manager who took out time to highlight all of his flaws in public, questioning his work ethic and commitment to the United cause when Martial took time off to spend time with his family after the birth of his second child.
Martial has seen his playing time reduce drastically, as Mourinho prefers to field other players, and for as long as the Portuguese remains at the helm of the club, it would be an unwise decision for Martial to continue playing there.
