Manchester United will face a battle to keep hold of star attacker Anthony Martial, with Chelsea and Juventus eyeing January move for the Frenchman.
As per a report from Sky Sports, Chelsea and Juventus are prepared to test Manchester United’s resolve by making an offer for French forward Anthony Martial in the January transfer window.
The 22-year-old Martial is in the final year of his contract with Manchester United, although the club have the option of extending it by another twelve months, which they are believed to have already activated.
Negotiations over a new contract have been going on for a while now, but not much progress has been achieved, with Martial rejecting the Red Devils’ latest offer of a new deal. And the report from Sky Sports claims that the two parties are still a far way away from reaching an agreement.
This has put Chelsea and Juventus on high-alert, and they are now set to launch an attempt to land the Frenchman in January.
Chelsea have been eyeing a new addition to their attacking line and someone like Martial, who can play across the front three and has experience in the Premier League could be the perfect solution for the West Londoners. However, they will have to offload one or two of their players in order to be able to fund a move for the 22-year-old in the winter window.
Juventus, on the other hand, have been casting glances of admiration towards Martial for a quite a while now. With Mario Mandzukic and Juan Cuadrado in their thirties, the Italian champions are looking to freshen things up in the final third of the pitch with the addition of the France international.
Manchester United, however, have no intentions of losing their prized asset anytime soon. The 22-year-old was believed to be headed out of Old Trafford in the summer, after a breakdown in his relationship with manager Jose Mourinho at the beginning of the campaign.
However, things seem to have smoothed down between the pair, as Martial has earned back the Manchester United manager’s faith with a string of impressive performances. Martial, so far in the 2018-19 term, has found the back of the net on 7 occasions from 14 matches, and has established himself as one of the first names on Mourinho’s teamsheet, in a dramatic turnaround of events.
“Obviously I would like him to stay. I know the club wants him very much to stay. Hopefully he is going to stay,” the former Chelsea and Real Madrid boss was quoted as saying when quizzed about Martial’s contract earlier this month.
Martial’s time at Old Trafford has been a bit of an up and down, but the Frenchman is finally living up to the immense potential he had shown in his debut campaign since arriving from AS Monaco in 2015. And losing him to another club, at a time when he is starting to peak, would be catastrophic for Manchester United.
Chelsea and Juventus are lurking around the corners to swoop in for the talented 22-year-old, while Inter Milan have also been credited with an interest in the attacker. Hence, Manchester United should do everything in their powers to tie him down to a new deal at the earliest possible, or risk losing him in the near future.
