Wantaway Martial can learn a lesson from ace Ronaldo
JUST LIKE THE FRENCHMAN
A PROMISING young forward wanting out after three seasons at United... Cristiano Ronaldo knows just what Anthony Martial is going through.
Back in the summer of 2006, the Portuguese publicly declared he wanted to ‘get out of Manchester’ after ‘nobody stood up’ for him following THAT wink at the World Cup.
Ronaldo’s role in Wayne Rooney’s red card followed a decent third campaign at Old Trafford, where he scored nine goals in 24 league starts.
Interestingly, Martial managed the same total in six fewer starts last season – not that he has gotten much encouragement from that.
After eight months of contract negotiations, which have coincided with the mid-season arrival of Alexis Sanchez, Martial wants to leave United after losing his place on his preferred position on the left wing and in Jose Mourinho’s starting line-up as a whole.
That is where the vague similarities with Ronaldo end.
Martial has vast potential, but to directly compare him with a man who will go down as one of the greatest footballers of alltime is unfair – regardless of the parallels between the pair at a similar age.
But Ronaldo’s next move in the summer of 2006 should certainly give Martial food for thought.
So many of his team-mates remember that first day of pre-season when the youngster returned a man, physically and mentally.
This was no longer the gawky youngster with spaghetti highlights who once mumbled something in broken English about becoming the world’s greatest player.
Those inevitable boos he received in grounds across the country spurred him on and he went on to break the 20-goal barrier for the first time in his career as he fired United to the Premier League.
Four individual awards would follow that season.
Veteran Ryan Giggs went on to remark that campaign was even better than Ronaldo’s Ballon d’Or-winning season a year later when he scored 42 goals as United won the Premier League and Champions League.
Admittedly, in Sir Alex Ferguson, Ronaldo had something Martial has lacked – a father figure.
Jose Mourinho may have long bonded with some of the Frenchman’s more vocal teammates, but it has not always been so straightforward with Martial.
After two seasons under Mourinho, the 23-year-old’s mind appears made up.
At the end of May he popped in for a meeting with his representatives at the USFA Management office – his agent, Philippe Lamboley, confirmed his client wanted to leave United just a few weeks later.
While some of his teammates, including Luke Shaw and Andreas Pereira, have been squeezing in some time with a personal trainer in the last month or so, Martial has been recovering from the unexpected setback of not making France’s World Cup squad.
Something he would not have imagined six months ago when he started 2018 by scoring three goals and setting up two more in his first five games of the year.
That could yet prove his last purple patch in a red shirt. INDY Boonen has turned down a new deal at United to join Belgian side KV Oostende.
The teenager was rated one of the club’s hottest prospects in his time with the under-18s, under-19s and under-23s.
Academy chief Kieran McKenna hailed the 19-year-old as ‘one of the best finishers in the group’ and Jose Mourinho certainly took note after inviting Boonen to train with the first team on a number of occasions.
But with huge competition for places at academy level, let alone in the first team where even Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford struggle for starts, the forward has decided to leave United after nearly four years at the club.
Boonen previously worked with KVO boss Gert Verheyen while playing for Belgium’s under-19s and now has the chance to prove himself in the country’s top division after signing a three-year contract at the Versluys Arena.
The youngster came through Genk’s famed academy - which has produced Kevin De Bruyne, Thibaut Courtois, Dennis Praet and Chris Benteke.