Erik ten Hag has run out of patience with Anthony Martial at Manchester United as he risks having a run-in with Joel Glazer over his transfer plans.
The club’s Glazer family owners previously blocked Jose Mourinho’s attempts to sell the forward, when the former boss tried to allow Martial to leave in a move to tempt then-Barcelona midfielder Ivan Rakitic to Old Trafford.
Glazer stepped in and refused to green-light the French forward's exit despite the clear benefits to Man United at the time. He even compared Martial to Brazilian icon Pele and clearly holds him in incredibly high regard.
United are in a state of flux currently with deep uncertainty over the club’s ownership situation. The Glazer family have continually pushed back their deadline to complete a sale of the club with the ownership situation at Old Trafford still unclear, despite their intentions of listening to offers – both majority and minority investments – coming over six months ago.
The third and final deadline for bids came earlier this month with a group led by Qatari banker Sheikh Jassim taking on a bid from INEOS, run by Britain’s richest man, Sir Jim Ratcliffe. Yet the Glazers remain at the helm and could yet dictate the club’s transfer business.
Glazer is clearly a huge fan of Martial, who joined the club from Monaco in the summer of 2015. The Frenchman has outlasted many high-profile forwards at the club in that timeframe including Memphis Depay, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Romelu Lukaku and Alexis Sanchez.
Have Your Say! Should United sell Martial this summer? Tell us what you think here.
However, Martial has returned just eight goals across 27 appearances in a season disrupted by fitness issues and a long-term absence of top form. He has failed to score in back-to-back Premier League matches since the 2019/20 campaign, which is not ideal for a club of United’s ambitions.
Ten Hag – Martial’s fifth manager at United – has publicly spoken of his support and admiration of the striker. "When he's on the pitch he will score,” he said last month. “He will link up, he will do a good job in the press, he is really important for us. When he's fit he is massive for us."
However, the striker’s reaction to being substituted at Bournemouth – storming off down the tunnel instead of staying on the bench – alongside his inconsistencies in form and in front of goal, has meant that the boss are now willing to cash in this summer.
United are prioritising the signing of a starting central striker this summer but they are now also evaluating selling Martial with the possibility of an extra forward also being signed with Wout Weghorst's loan spell to expire at the end of the campaign.
