Anthony Martial has always wanted to be a number nine.
He was given the number initially when he joined Manchester United. He even changed his social media to include a nine in the handle, but then Zlatan Ibrahimovic joined, and not only was the Frenchman moved out of the striking spot and pushed out wide, but he also had to give his number to the Swedish striker.
Martial returned to the striker position under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and had a career-best season scoring 23 goals in all competitions. Still, due to poor form and new signings, he was again relegated to the bench before eventually being loaned out to Sevilla.
And when he reached Spain, he must have expected that he would be the main man upfront, and during his unveiling, the personalised message the club had secured from Martial's idol Ronaldo Nazario must have also been a boost.
But when Sevilla's first team sheet came out, Martial was out on the left once again, and the performance that followed showed a man who was rusty but had also declined as a player under Solskjaer.
Now Martial has been effective as a winger in the past. His shot creation numbers and dribbles reflect this, but the combination of a lack of development at United and a desire to score goals and be the main man has always hampered this. It could still affect him during his time at Sevilla.
Sevilla has Rafa Mir as their striker currently and has Youseff En-Nesyri to return after his spell at AFCON, so it is unlikely that Martial will be deployed in the central striking role any time soon. Still, if Sevilla is going to rejuvenate the Frenchman, they need to stick with him at left-wing and convince the player this is the best place for him.
It is still only one game into his loan spell, so Martial still has time to get back up to speed and improve. Still, suppose he develops his game on the left-wing. In that case, it is unlikely that he will return to United, given that they have Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford starting with the likelihood of Amad and Anthony Elanga providing depth.
United will be looking to rebuild in the summer, and if Martial is revitalised, maybe the new manager will want to use him going forward. However, at the same time, if he has proved that he still has it, he will likely command a decent fee that the club can reinvest in improving their squad.
It's a long way back for Martial, but it's not impossible.
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