Paul Scholes claimed that Anthony Martial "doesn't have the heart" to succeed at Manchester United in the wake of their embarrassing 3-0 loss against Sevilla.
The Red Devils were dumped out of the Europa League on Thursday after a one-sided quarter-final second leg in Andalusia, with Martial one of a number of United players who put in a shameful performance. The French striker, 27, came off injured before the hour mark on just his third start since returning from the sidelines following a three-month layoff.
Post-match, Scholes took aim at Martial and urged Erik ten Hag to sign a new striker in the summer transfer window. Recently, Ten Hag revealed that he expects the 27-year-old to remain at Old Trafford for next season, a campaign which would mark the final year of his current contract, having joined the club from Monaco as a teenager in September 2015.
"Anthony Martial's a talented lad but I think when the going gets tough when he's really got to dig in, he doesn't quite have the heart for it," Scholes told BT Sport. "He didn't tonight - I don’t know how bad his injury is - he limped off. He could be training tomorrow or he could be out for six months, he's one of them, you just don't know."
Looking at the Red Devils' squad depth as a whole, Scholes added: "I think it comes down to quality - just a real lack of quality. To be fair there wasn't a lack of quality on the pitch, there were some good players on the pitch - Casemiro, [Christian] Eriksen - but then you have to go to a [Wout] Weghorst.
"The quality just drops a level when these players aren’t fit. The injury to Martial and Marcus [Rashford] comes on, again he's probably not trained as he would have liked and he was a little bit not quite there. Luke Shaw was sloppy on the ball, it was just a disastrous night from start to finish.
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"We've had these nights throughout the season where it's been a bit disastrous, but I still feel ten Hag is doing things right and we're going in the right direction. This will help him summer-wise, he knows just by looking at that game tonight - even the first 20 minutes - he needs better players to fill the squad."
Ten Hag gave his scathing verdict on the performance, saying: "We have to do better, that's the demand. We were not composed, not calm. We didn't beat the press, when you do there are so many spaces behind, and it was obvious at the start how to do it. We lost the battles, they had more passion, more desire, more willingness, that's difficult to win games. We can't run away from it."
"On Sunday we have another opportunity and have to step up and show more character and personality."
Through injury or form, Martial might not get the opportunity to face Brighton in Sunday's FA Cup semi-final. The winners will play either Manchester City and Sheffield United.
