Anthony Martial Given Another Chance at Old Trafford

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There has been a lot of speculation this summer regarding the future of Cristiano Ronaldo. The Manchester United forward has reportedly asked the club to accept offers for him as he wants to play in the Champions League this coming season.

If the Portuguese were to leave Old Trafford, speculation has increased as to who would be brought in to replace the striker. However, there is one man already at Manchester United who could step in and score goals.

Anthony Martial spent the second half of last season on loan at Sevilla. The French international played 9 matches for the club in La Liga and failed to find the back of the net.

He managed 1 assist in those 9 games but did manage to score 1 goal in the Europa League for Sevilla.

The loan move turned out to be a huge disappointment for all concerned and did not give Martial the boost everyone at Old Trafford was hoping for when he moved to Spain.

Martial has been a Manchester United player since 2015 and during that time he has scored 79 goals in all competitions, including 17 Premier League goals in the 2019/20 season.

Martial has created 50 goals for his teammates and that means a total of 129 goal contributions in his 269 appearances.

Partially due to the absence of Ronaldo on the preseason tour, Erik ten Hag has been using Martial and the Frenchman has rewarded the new manager with 2 goals.

Martial has scored in both matches, against Liverpool and Melbourne Victory. Speaking after the win over the latter, Ten Hag said, “I'm sure he can come back even better.

I think when he has the right focus and the right motivation and he works hard he will have production because he is a good player.

“I say when he has the right focus and every day delivers then he will have production and it's up to him.”

Ten Hag believes there is a chance for Martial this season at Manchester United and has placed the ball firmly in his court with the comments after the Melbourne Victory game.

There is still a great deal of uncertainty surrounding the future of Ronaldo, who scored 18 goals in the Premier League last season, making him Manchester United’s top scorer.

Ronaldo also netted 6 times in the Champions League and the Red Devils would not have qualified for the knockout stages if it were not for the Portuguese international.

So, for Martial to step up and replace Ronaldo in the Manchester United team is a big ask. With Robert Lewandowski likely to move to Barcelona, Bayern Munich need a striker for next season and Ronaldo could be tempted with a move to Germany.

Bayern Munich are clear favourites to win the Bundesliga and challenge in the latter stages of the Champions League. If Ronaldo made the move to Bayern Munich, can Martial score the goals to propel Manchester United back into the top four?