Injuries have plagued Anthony Martial throughout his time at Old Trafford. The French forward has never been himself, and the entire Manchester United team has also been in decline.

It’s highly likely that Anthony Martial will have to leave Manchester United.

When Manchester United signed Anthony Martial in 2015, they believed they were getting a future superstar. But now, his career is being marred by a series of different injuries.

Despite the frustration of Manchester United fans, Martial has remained at Old Trafford for 9 seasons now.

The French forward was signed by Louis van Gaal and has played under 5 different managers at Manchester United. But none of them have been able to fully harness Martial’s potential. In fact, Martial himself has been the main reason.

Martial has rarely found stability at Old Trafford, perhaps only briefly shining before fading away. He has been unable to complete a full 90 minutes in any match over the past 3 years.

Perhaps Martial and Manchester United were wrong from the very beginning.

The French player joined the Red Devils as the next big hope for the club, but turned into an icon of decline since Sir Alex Ferguson retired. Not to mention scoring 20 goals each season, witnessing a composed and cheerful version of Martial has been difficult.

Martial has struggled with persistent muscle injuries throughout his career. The French player shared that he had to play through injury throughout the 2020-2021 season. This led to a decline in form, and Martial only scored 4 goals in the Premier League.

Over the past 2 seasons, I have often played with injuries. People don’t know that, I couldn’t accelerate for 4 months after the COVID season. Solskjaer told me he needed me, so I played,” Martial shared with France Football. “In matches, if I couldn’t accelerate, it would become very complicated. And when I was criticized – the coach never hesitated to tell the media.

Manchester United was willing to sell Martial last summer but received no suitable offers. And the forward did not have the fitness to start the season, forcing Erik ten Hag to deploy Marcus Rashford as a center forward. At that time, newcomer Rasmus Hojlund was still recovering from injury.

Martial doesn’t often play, but whenever he’s on the field, the Red Devils fans become angry and frustrated. The 28-year-old player was greeted with jeers from the stands when he replaced Hojlund in the loss to Brighton. The same thing happened in the Manchester derby.

Anthony Martial rarely manages to maintain good physical condition at Manchester United.

In fact, this season, Martial has scored against Crystal Palace in the Carabao Cup and found the net against Everton in the Premier League. However, those were just fleeting moments. Most of the other matches, he struggled on the field.

Martial has not played a single minute or even appeared on the bench since the defeat to Bournemouth on December 9th last year. His prolonged absence is said to be due to illness, although he was in the stands for the 2-2 draw with Tottenham.

There are reports that Ten Hag requested Martial to train alone, but Manchester United denied this. Worse still, Martial’s agent Philippe Lamboley revealed that he will need hip surgery.

Therefore, Martial may only play a few more games for Manchester United before his contract expires. Ten Hag does not want to activate the one-year extension clause, as the club has done with Victor Lindelof and Aaron Wan-Bissaka.