Anthony Martial has come home early from Manchester United's tour of the USA to be with his girlfriend for the birth of their baby son.
The 22-year-old, who wants to leave the club, asked coach Jose Mourinho for special permission to curtail his involvement in the club's tour on Tuesday night and has taken a flight back home from Los Angeles to be with his 25-year-old partner Melanie Da Cruz.
While family man Mourinho will be understanding of Martial's situation, the timing could not have been worse.
The relationship between the two is at breaking point with Mourinho increasingly frustrated by Martial's poor performances and the Frenchman far from enamoured with his manager's criticism and selection policy.
Indeed, Martial wants to quit United as soon as possible and Mourinho wants him out.
The United coach has been told he needs to sell before he can strengthen and Martial is his best chance of recouping funds.
However, the market for Martial is limited in this window with United reluctant to sell to a domestic rival such as Chelsea or Tottenham and pricing him out of a move abroad.
They would prefer to extend his contract until 2020 and hope that he takes advantage of Romelu Lukaku and Marcus Rashford having been at the World Cup.
Bayern Munich would prefer to sign Martial next summer while Paris St Germain, Juventus and Real Madrid have other priorities.
His departure from the tour will come as a blow to Mourinho's pre-season preparations though with United forced to lean more heavily on their young reserves as they prepare to face AC Milan on Wednesday night.
Captain Antonio Valencia is also doubtful for the rest of the tour after injuring his calf.
Rudra_
93
22 years kid with already 2 kids man oh man 😂😂 anyway.. wish you a safe delivery ✌✌
sunnysayus
65
If a player want to perform under Mou, he should ready to follow the instructions word for word and play like he memorised the instructional lines. Mou's pattern is not easy to play because it get players confused and stranded at some points in the matches.What I mean is that Mouriho want results at all cost regardless of conditions surrounding the game and if otherwise occur he never shares part of the fault.So players will have to always play to instructions strictly so that you will just be satisfied if things do not work out.Martial was a very good player under van Gal but Mouriho's mismanagement has turned him a mediocre. He has to leave so that he can regain his form.
Buffet
58
He's a kid for goodness sake!!! Sell him for goodness sake as he was rubbish last season and probably MourinJoe's fault as he is a feeling wa$&er!!
aloelast
23
Something i like about this lad. U never see him messing about with Lingard or Pogba doing stupid dances. He wants to be with his family when he is needed. Has talent that could make him better than Henry. He could be anything he wants. Id have him at liverpool if it was possible