Man United stars impressed by flourishing Martial

Man United stars impressed by flourishing Martial

Man United stars impressed by flourishing Martial

Anthony Martial’s Manchester United
team-mates believe the young French
forward is about to live up to the
potential that convinced Louis van Gaal
to sign him from Monaco last year.
The transfer could reportedly cost United
as much as £61.5 million ($87.6 million,
80.1 million euros), should Martial, 20,
fulfil various bonus clauses written into
his contract.
After a strong start to his Old Trafford
career, Martial had suffered a mid-
season dip in form, but his display in
Friday’s 3-1 FA Cup fourth-round victory
at Championship side Derby County
recalled his better moments from earlier
in the campaign.
Now, Martial and United are desperate
to carry that form into a testing home
Premier League fixture against Stoke
City on Tuesday as they look to ease the
pressure that has been steadily mounting
on Van Gaal in the new year.
“He can be a good player, but he must
improve,” said team-mate Marouane
Fellaini.
“Anthony has a lot of quality. He is
quick, a good dribbler and always
dangerous. He is young and has to keep
going, learn every day and he will be a
good player.
“He’s settled in well, and enjoys the
training and loves the Premier League,
and loves playing games.
“So, first of all, this is good for him, but
also the club. He must train hard and
keep going as next season will be more
difficult because the Premier League will
know him. But he has the quality to be a
success.”
The Belgian added: “We did well against
Derby. We created a lot of chances and
that is good for the confidence.
“The passing was quick and we played
forward, so I think we will keep going
like that.”
Fellaini’s midfield colleague Michael
Carrick has also been impressed by
Martial’s development and believes he
was “unplayable” in the victory at
Derby.
– ‘Shaking things up’ –
“He has shown his quality from day one,
since his debut,” said Carrick, recalling
Martial’s memorable solo goal in
September’s 3-1 home win over arch
rivals Liverpool.
“We realise how good he is, but we can’t
expect everything all the time. However,
when he’s playing like that as he did
against Derby, he’s pretty much
unplayable, so it’s nice to have him.”
United’s injury problems continue in the
full-back positions for the visit of Stoke,
with Ashley Young, Marcos Rojo, Antonio
Valencia and Luke Shaw all long-term
absentees with no set return dates.
Stoke know they can move to within a
single point of fifth-place United if they
win and can consider themselves part of
the most open race for the European
qualification slots in decades.
But they have injury problems of their
own, with defender Marc Wilson
suffering a knee injury that could keep
him out for three months in Saturday’s
1-0 FA Cup fourth-round defeat at
Crystal Palace.
“We’re going to have a good go if we
can, but a lot of clubs will be in there —
Palace themselves, West Ham, plus the
usual suspects,” said manager Mark
Hughes, the former United striker.
“It’s a big game on Tuesday, obviously.
We can affect them and help ourselves
so we’ll try to do that.
“I think everyone’s interest and focus on
the league is as high as it’s ever been just
because of the different teams that are
getting involved.
“Obviously the stand-out team is
Leicester by virtue of what they are
doing, but there are a lot of other teams
around them, and we’d like to include
ourselves in that, who are doing OK and
shaking things up a bit.”
Hughes made eight changes for the
Palace game following the Potters’
penalty shoot-out exit at Liverpool on
Tuesday, with the majority of those
omitted set for recalls against United.