Martial arts class
ANTHONY MARTIAL can become the “killer striker” Manchester United need, according to Louis Saha.
Former France and United star Saha compares compatriot Martial to Thierry Henry and believes he has all the qualities needed to justify his £ 36 million transfer fee – a world record for a teenage footballer, and which could rise to £ 58m.
But Saha says that, like Henry in his early days at Arsenal, 19- year- old Martial needs to concentrate on learning the striker’s art and improving his fi nishing.
“Martial can create goals but he can also
score goals,” said Saha, speaking at Soccerex in Manchester. “He can be trained to become a killer in front of goal.
“A lot of young players don’t specialise in one department in their game. They pretty much want to do everything so that is the challenge for Louis van Gaal with Martial. Van Gaal should focus on the one or two qualities that he is missing and United need – and that is goals.
“He needs to work inside Martial’s head to work to increase his tactical awareness and the sort of runs he needs to make to make him a more efficient striker, like Henry did when he was younger.
“Van Gaal knows the potential of Martial and he has a good track record of developing young players from his time at Ajax, Barcelona and Bayern Munich.”
Martial, who won his first cap for France against Portugal on Friday, is set to complete a momentous 10 days in his fl edging career by making a daunting Premier League debut on Saturday when United face Liverpool at Old Trafford.
SAIDO BERAHINO yesterday played a full part in West Brom training as his reintegration into the fold began.
The 22- year- old has spent a week licking his wounds after Albion turned down four bids from Tottenham, prompting a vow that he would never play for the club again.