Manchester United icon Andy Cole has laid into Anthony Martial and blasted the Frenchman’s goal record after eight years of appearing for the Red Devils.
The 27-year-old arrived at Old Trafford in the summer of 2015 after United forked out £44million to secure his signature from Ligue 1 outfit Monaco. Tipped to become the next Thierry Henry, Martial has fallen well short of those expectations and has now been the subject of a brutal review from club legend Cole.
Martial has overseen five different managers during his time as a United player and rarely has he ever been someone any of them could turn to as a reliable goalscorer, whether that be when he is deployed as a striker or on the flanks. Cole has clearly come to the end of his tether with the France international.
“Martial has been at Manchester United for 8 years now and he hasn’t even scored 100 goals,” Cole blasted to BetFred. “It’s incredible. He is a centre-forward at Manchester United and he has played in some fantastic teams.
“His best performance in the league was 17 goals. He’s had more than enough time and opportunity to show United just how good he is and he unfortunately hasn’t been able to do so.”
Cole’s comments hardly paint Martial in a particularly positive light, but they are somewhat tame compared to the views of another former Red Devil in Paul Parker. The ex-United man went as far to suggest that Ten Hag should be sacked if the Dutchman names Martial in his starting line-up for next weekend’s clash against Brighton.
Parker is firm in his stance that United’s £72m summer-signing Rasmus Hojlund should now already be ahead of Martial in the pecking order of Red Devils attackers despite only playing 25 minutes of football for the club so far.
“If he doesn’t start against Brighton, then all fans will want Erik ten Hag fired, and it would almost be justified,” he told SpilXperten. “It wouldn’t make any sense if he started on the bench. Martial shouldn’t even be on the bench.
“There must be a youth player who is better who can sit on the bench, and Hojlund can be the first striker. All Manchester United fans are fed up with seeing a player with a lousy attitude, who always sulks and complains, and it’s a blessing that Man Utd finally has an attacker who plays with enthusiasm.”
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