Pundit, football coach and co-owner Gary Neville has hit out at Manchester United forward Anthony Martial, overtly questioning his desire and effort. The United legend, who’s fifth all time in appearances by a player and second in tenure with the club behind Ryan Giggs made extremely harsh comments about the young Frenchman on his podcast.
Gary Neville said he feels Martial only gives 85% effort when he plays, and said that “there’s obviously something wrong with him.”
Martial has spent much of the season alternating starts with Marcus Rashford, with both young attacking players remaining productive. Martial has often come on very late in games, and scored, as he did yesterday in the 1-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur, and his crunch time scoring strikes have conveyed a sense of his being an extremely clutch player.
Gary Neville laid into him nonetheless.
“It’s been a stop-start Manchester United career for Martial,” he told The Gary Neville Podcast (transcript via the Manchester Evening News).
“For someone of his talent, he should be tearing this league apart with his ability. He’s lost his place in the France squad. There’s obviously something wrong with him. Mourinho and the French manager has turned off of him a little bit. You always get the feeling he’s playing at 85 per cent.”
“If he showed that extra 15 per cent, then he could do anything. He’s got everything you’d want: composure in front of goal, great skill, pace, strength, but what is that little bit missing?”
Neville certainly has a point or two to make, as it’s true Martial struggled last season, and saw big drop-off in year two at Old Trafford from what he accomplished in year one. He has lost his place with France too, but Neville seems to be going too far with some of his opinions.
It certainly comes off as a “hot take” conducted for the sake of seeking attention (which hey, to his credit, worked, since here we are, so many people are writing about him).
Martial has flourished this season, with four goals and two assists in nine league games this season. He has seven goals and eight assists in eight games across all competitions.
Neville wasn’t done, adding the following:
“He scores in big games, he takes big moments on and obviously has the temperament to play in big games. But come on, let’s see it every single week.
“He could be a player that could score 20 goals in 20 games if he really wanted to and strived to be the best.”
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now and Minute Media. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and Chicago Now.
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