Anthony Martial

Anthony Martial is a French footballer who plays as a forward for Premier League club Manchester United.

Martial started his professional career at Lyon before the talented forward made the switch to AS Monaco in 2013.

He moved to Old Trafford in what was a then world-record fee for a teenager in the 2015 summer transfer window.

Martial won the FA Cup in his first season at Old Trafford to cap a fine start to his Manchester United career.

The French starlet helped the Red Devils to win the Europa League and the League Cup in his second season at Old Trafford.

Martial made his France debut in a 1-0 win against Portugal in September 2015, just weeks after his Manchester United transfer.

Early Life

Anthony was born in the suburbs of Paris and played his youth football at CO Les Ulis, a side famous for producing Thierry Henry and Patrice Evra.

Martial’s talent was recognised early on and he even went on a trial at Manchester City at the age of 12.

However, he moved to French club Olympique Lyonnais in 2009. He soon made his mark at the French champions with 32 goals in 21 games for Lyon’s Under-17 side.

Lyon

Martial made his Lyon debut as a second-half substitute in 2-0 victory over Hapoel Ironi Kiryat Shmona in the Europa League in December 2012 having just turned 17.

Martial went on to make two more appearances but the forward opted to leave Lyon to join AS Monaco in the summer of 2013.

The seven-time Ligue 1 winners would go on to make €28m from Martial’s sale to Manchester United two years later.

AS Monaco

2013-14

Martial completed a €5m move to Lyon’s top-flight rivals AS Monaco in the 2013 summer transfer window.

Anthony signed a three-year contract with Monaco and he made his debut as a substitute for Radamel Falcao against FC Nantes in November 2013.

Given his impressive performances despite his relative in experience as an 18-year-old, Monaco opted to hand Martial a five-year contract extension in January 2014.

He finished his first season at Monaco with two goals in 15 appearances in all competitions.

2014-15

Martial started to attract interest from other European leagues during his second season at AS Monaco.

He scored a dramatic equaliser in 1-1 draw with Ligue 1 champions Paris Saint-Germain to put his name on the map.

Anthony scored two goals in the same match for the first time in Monaco’s 2-0 victory over Bastia in March 2014.

He finished the 2014-15 campaign with 12 goals in 48 games in all competitions. Monaco added another season to his contract to extend his deal until 2019.

Although he started the 2015-16 season at Monaco, Manchester United swooped to sign the France Under-21 international on transfer deadline day on 1 September 2015.

Manchester United

Anthony became the most expensive teenager in the world when he completed a £36m move to Manchester United on 1 September 2015. The transfer fee could rise to £57.6m with add-ons.

Then Manchester United boss Louis van Gaal admitted that the club paid over the odds for Martial after he described the forward as a signing with the future in mind. “The fee is ridiculous. He is for the next manager,” said Van Gaal in September 2015.

Martial was handed Manchester United’s famous number nine shirt as he followed in the footsteps of club legends such as Andy Cole, Dimitar Berbatov and his former Monaco team-mate Radamel Falcao.

2015-16

Anthony didn’t take long to win over the Manchester United supporters.

Martial, then 18, scored twice in a 3-2 victory at Southampton as he made a blistering start to his Red Devils career despite his inexperience.

He extended his goal-scoring run with his fourth goal in four games from the bench in a 4-0 victory over Ipswich Town in the League Cup.

To cap a remarkable month, Martial was awarded the Premier League player of the month award for September. Liverpool legend Michael Owen and ex-Manchester City defender Micah Richards were the only players younger than Martial to have received the award.

Anthony scored his first Champions League goal in a 1-1 draw with CSKA Moscow in October 2015. While he couldn’t prevent Manchester United from crashing out of the competition despite scoring against Wolfsburg, Martial won Uefa’s Under-21 player of the year award in December.

He scored against Liverpool again in their 1-1 Europa League draw at Old Trafford. Jurgen Klopp’s side progressed to the last 16 after a 2-0 win at Anfield.

Martial teed up Marouane Fellaini and scored the winner in a 2-1 win against Everton in the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley.

He went on to finish his first season at Manchester United as a FA Cup winner. Anthony didn’t get on the score sheet in a 2-1 win over Crystal Palace in the final.

Martial scored 17 times and made nine assists in 51 appearances in all competitions.

2016-17

Manchester United sacked Van Gaal in May 2016 and Jose Mourinho was recruited as his successor.

Martial was stripped of his number nine shirt at the start of his second season to accommodate Zlatan Ibrahimovic – despite the Frenchman scoring 17 times in his debut campaign. The France international was handed the No11 shirt previously worn by Ryan Giggs.

While Martial was a key player under Van Gaal, Mourinho refused to make Anthony an automatic starter.

He fell behind England international Marcus Rashford in the pecking order with the duo developing a rivalry for a spot on the left wing.

Martial belatedly opened his Premier League account for the season with an equaliser from the bench in a 1-1 draw with Stoke City at Old Trafford in October.

He was given the chance to build more confidence with a penalty in a 4-1 victory over Turkish outfit Fenerbahce in the Europa League group stage.

Martial continued to prove a point to Mourinho with two goals in a 4-1 win against West Ham in the League Cup in November 2016.

The Manchester United boss continued his trend of criticising Martial in public throughout the 2016-17 campaign as the France striker was in and out of the starting line-up.

Martial produced moments of magic during a man-of-the-match performance in a 2-1 win at Watford in February 2017. He was part of the team that won the League Cup thanks to a 3-2 win against Southampton in the final.

He scored and made an assist in a 2-0 win at Burnley in another brilliant performance in April but he wouldn’t find the net again in the Premier League campaign.

Martial came on with seven minutes remaining as Manchester United were 2-0 winners against Dutch giants Ajax in the Europa League final in May.

The former Lyon striker scored eight goals and made eight assists in 27 appearances in all competitions in his first season under Mourinho.

2017-18

Martial made a strong start to the new season despite still being behind Rashford in the pecking order for Mourinho’s Premier League XI.

The French forward scored four goals and two assists in 10 Premier League outings. He scored against CSKA Moscow again in the Champions League and made two assists to help the Red Devils move to the brink of last-16 qualification.

Anthony scored three goals (against Everton, Stoke and Burnley) in five games at the start of January to make a promising start to 2018 but didn’t find the back of the net again in the remaining months of the campaign.

International Career

Martial made his senior international debut as a substitute in France’s 1-0 win against Portugal in September 2015.

Martial was included in Didier Deschamps’ squad for the European championship on home soil in 2016.

He was a substitute in their group-stage wins over Romania and Albania but didn’t feature again until he came on as an impact sub in their 1-0 loss to Portugal in the Euro 2016 final.

Anthony started France’s 2-2 draw with world champions Germany in an international friendly at Stade De France in November 2017.

He was left out of France’s squad for the 2018 World Cup.

Personal Life

Martial is of Guadeloupean descent. Anthony’s older brother Johan is also a professional footballer. His other older brother Dorian was the captain of the senior team at Les Ulis.

The Manchester United striker has a daughter called Toto with his ex-partner Samantha.

Anthony Martial – Did You Know?

• Anthony started his youth career at the same club as Arsenal legend Thierry Henry and ex-Manchester United defender Patrice Evra.

• Evra gave Martial a pair of his football boots when the striker was 12.

• At the age of 12, Martial had a trial with Manchester City before he ended up moving to Lyon.

• Before signing for Manchester United, Martial had attracted interest from the likes of Chelsea FC, Tottenham Hotspur and Valencia.

• Martial was often dubbed as the ‘next Thierry Henry’. Of course, both Martial and Henry were born in the same region in France and both played for Monaco.