Now that the Jadon Sancho saga has finally been put to bed at Man United, the last thing that Erik ten Hag needs is another first-team star making his life difficult.
The Dutchman has been fighting fires all season long and that appears to have transferred onto the pitch where United’s form has been well below the standards that the club sets for itself.
Evidence of that is their current eighth position, some fourteen points behind leaders Liverpool, they’re the only team in the top 10 with a negative goal difference and are the lowest scorers in the division bar the bottom two, Burnley and Sheffield United.
The latter stat is as much to do with Anthony Martial as any other attacking player for the Red Devils, and it’s the Frenchman that his digging his heels in at Old Trafford.
According to The Athletic (subscription required), the 28-year-old has turned down the chance to leave the club despite concrete approaches from Marseille, Fenerbahce and the Saudi Pro League.
Out of contract in the summer, it appears that Martial intends to bide his time and leave at the end of the current campaign.
Unless ten Hag becomes disillusioned with his first-choice XI, then Martial is unlikely to feature, and that says an awful lot about the player’s motivation at this stage of his career.