France coach Didier Deschamps has revealed his belief that Manchester United forward Anthony Martial has lived up to his hefty price-tag.
The former Monaco star arrived at Old Trafford last summer in a deal worth £36m, making the 19-year-old the world’s most expensive teenager, as confirmed by BBC Sport.
Despite still being in his first season in England, Deschamps has been impressed with the way he has progressed and adjusted to the Premier League and is adamant that he hasn’t buckled under the pressure of the money involved.
“Anthony is young but he has confirmed his potential in Manchester despite the weight of the price of his transfer,” Deschamps said, as reported by ESPN FC.
“He has progressed, he plays a lot. He is young and he is not tired. He is doing very interesting things with speed and impact. Usually he plays on the left but he can play as centre-forward too.
“It’s good, he continues to progress, he comes regularly for the French national team [but] he has a lot of room for improvement.”
Although Martial has scored 12 goals in all competitions so far this season, it seems a little early still to suggest that he has lived up to the £36m valuation.
Given the figure, and a club of United’s stature, they will be expecting big things from the young forward for years to come and an impressive first season in the Premier League is arguably not enough of a sample period to assess his impact.
While it is certainly a great start and United have benefited from it significantly, the test of a player who is expected to reach the top level will be his consistency and whether or not he can produce week in and week out as expectations grow and weigh more heavily on his shoulders.
Martial still has some way to go to prove that as opposing defences continue to adjust to his threat and single him out as a danger, but the early signs are promising and Deschamps as well as Louis van Gaal will hope he can continue his current rate of progression.