Manchester United have offered Anthony Martial a new five-year contract.
The 22-year-old France forward is into the last year of the deal he signed in September 2015 and his Old Trafford future has been the subject of considerable speculation, with many reports claiming he has become a pawn in a power struggle at the club between manager Jose Mourinho and executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward.
That narrative would suggests Woodward has offered Martial a new deal, contrary to Mourinho's wishes, and the player is tempted to sign as he believes the Portuguese manager's days at the club are numbered.
It is understood however that Mourinho is fully on board with United's desire to keep Martial and talks between the club and his agent Philippe Lamboley are progressing.
Martial became football's most expensive teenager when he signed for United from Monaco in a deal worth an initial £36million, with more than £21million in bonus clauses.
One of those add-ons was triggered when he scored his 25th goal for United - something he achieved by the end of his second season at the club - but after scoring 17 goals in 49 appearances in his first season in England, Martial has only scored 19 in 87 over the last two years.
His relationship with Mourinho has also been prickly, with the manager dropping several hints about his chances-to-goals ratio and work-rate.
As a result, Martial has been in and out of United's starting line-up and his lack of games last season almost certainly cost him a place in France's World Cup-winning squad in Russia this summer.
His struggles at United alerted other clubs to his possible availability and it is understood Tottenham were among those interested in signing him this summer, with Mourinho apparently open to the idea.
That certainly looked plausible on Monday, when Martial was not even included in United's squad for Spurs' visit, but it now appears that Old Trafford's bosses are not willing to give up on a player who was named Europe's most promising young talent by UEFA only three years ago.
conacikory
64
Pricky relationship for now, but just look at how luke shaw has transformed. Yes, man utd has lost 2/3 games but shaw has been performing well in all the games. He even has a goal to his name already. If martial can rise above mourinho criticism, martial will become lethal!!
Sterzil
59
Martial is a very talented creative and young player he would be best if he stays at United because they really do need players like him he's vibrant eager and always ready for action when. he first came at the club he was a beast and. a terrific bomb shell... Jose should give him. more playing time. and understand martial he should understand all he's players Jose isn't a patient man and is always eager for quick and. good results.. If martial stays and gets more game. time. and. Jose. doesn't cause any more problems. surely he would be good and in the future united would see that they made the right choice
10andreas
39
Sad thing is he won't get enough playing time with United. Martial plays either from Striker or in Left-Mid but Lukaku plays from striker whereas in the left mid , Mourinho plays either Pogba or there are a lot of options like Herrera , Fred
elninoh de suspect
36
After trying to waste his talent on the bench........ Anyway that's good to give him more time @ the great club..... 👏👏
majestical
33
Question of the day.. With this heavy busses, can martial progress as fans expect?
foebeku
33
lol..now the board at Man utd is letting Mou knoe who the Boss is.. if hes never handled being bossed by star players before then i see this time doing so and begging the players to perform in any way they see helps the team not hos way all the time which is the way it must be..they respect his outdated tactics and attitude and he respects their natural effort of playing in any way they see fit to make us win..