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For someone who banned more people than one owner, Sir Alex Ferguson might as well be media-friendly, especially ITV on European nights. It was once the norm for Ferguson to not only chat with Gary Newbon or Gabriel Clarke before and after a game, but at halftime.
United’s Champions League qualifying match against Dinamo Bucharest in 2004 was a hurdle for the headlines the following morning. United had bet on Wayne Rooney, irrepressible in the European Summer Cup, after Everton received an optimistic offer from Newcastle.
“We have made an offer today,” Ferguson told ITV before the Bucharest tie. “He is a fabulous player, he showed it at Euro 2004, and he is a young player.”
Ferguson had already signed Louis Saha for £ 12.6 million in the winter window and Alan Smith for £ 7 million in the summer. United would be deprived of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer for the entire season due to a chronic knee injury and had just said goodbye to Diego Forlán, but a move for Rooney had been planned for next year.
Exceptions have to be made for certain talents and United were right to go after Erling Haaland with his € 20m buyout clause. Solskjaer knew how high Haaland’s ceiling was since training him for Molde and there was intense competition to sign him before the January window.
Haaland played for Borussia Dortmund and finished 2019-20 with a staggering 40 goals in 40 games for Red Bull Salzburg and the Bundesliga runners-up. Haaland is already three out of two this season and club football hasn’t even started.
Solskjaer ended up with a loaned forward from the Chinese Super League to cover the prone Marcus Rashford. Odion Ighalo has served a purpose and has five goals in five starts but, despite Solskjaer’s apparent receptivity, United never intended to sign Ighalo permanently.
Ighalo, 32, returns to China in the New Year and United are still looking for a forward permanently. Had they successfully passed Mino Raiola and drafted Haaland, he would not have caught fire like he did in the Bundesliga, but he would have risked defeating United’s established number nine.
Unless another Haaland emerges, United now plans to support Anthony Martial rather than replace him. Martial scored the top scorer for the second time in his career with United with 23 goals, six more than his best in 2015-16, and has fulfilled his request to regain number nine, notching the first United Premier hat-trick. League from Robin van. Persie in April 2013 against Sheffield United.
With Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year award results soon, Martial is a leading contender: 17 league goals in 31 starts, 23 of 41 overall, two derby winners, goal-of-the-season contenders against Norwich and Watford and an improved work moral principle.
(Image: 2020 Getty Images)
Hugo Lloris, in service in France with Martial this month, is in a unique position to analyze his compatriot’s development, as he now works with a manager who was open to letting Martial go two years ago.
“I don’t know if it’s related to his relationship with Solskjaer, but he’s more confident,” Lloris said. “There is a very good atmosphere with the players around him at Manchester United, which allowed him to score those goals and get good stats last season.
“Now he is expected to perform. He will have to confirm his reputation. Now he has a chance with the French team. He is here to establish himself for the long term.”
“He intends to do well, whether he plays five minutes, 10 minutes, a half, a full game. He is ready to meet expectations.”
Paul Scholes is as enlightening as a blackout and his joke that Martial was fighting José Mourinho was an inaccurate mockery. Martial and Luke Shaw, two of Mourinho’s guys, were United’s standout players before he was fired and hit the road when the going got tough. Martial embarked on what was then his career-best streak of six goals in five league starts.
Despite flashes of irresponsibility, Martial has always had the ability to get down to business. Mourinho was only prepared to let Martial go as his agent had communicated that wish to him and then when Martial went AWOL on the 2018 preseason tour, Mourinho wanted United to make an example of him.
Ed Woodward reported that Mourinho Martial would not be sold and Mourinho discovered that Martial was the favorite player of United co-president Joel Glazer. Mourinho also suspected Woodward was afraid of Daniel Levy amid Tottenham’s interest in Martial. Martial parted ways with Mourinho on positive terms, later admitting that public criticism galvanized him. Mourinho would have gladly inherited Martial if Spurs had prevailed in 2018.
The top scorers have the ability to salvage idle performances with vital goals and Martial has developed that habit, most memorably against Chelsea and City. He wasn’t really convincing as a center forward until after the heat of training in Marbella and Ighalo’s presence was crucial: Martial scored 12 goals in 28 games without Ighalo and looted 11 of 20 after the Nigerian arrived.
United need to keep Martial on their toes and one goalscorer remains on their draft list, only now he’s a support striker rather than a starter.
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