Manchester United’s away travails finally ended on Saturday as Erik ten Hag’s men picked up an important victory over Southampton.
Two back-to-back wins have now arrived in contrasting manner with United having to dig deep to grind their way to the three points at Saint Mary’s.
United now have six points from four games but Ten Hag has revealed that a lot of improvements still need to be made as United look for more consistency going forward.
🚨 Anthony Martial will be offered a new contract at Manchester United.
(Source: @SkySportsNews)
— Transfer News Live (@DeadlineDayLive) August 28, 2022
The attack, in particular, has not yet fired on all cylinders with only four goals arriving so far. Cristiano Ronaldo‘s future remains up in the air while Marcus Rashford has not shone when played up top on his own.
Martial absence not helping ETH
One player who can remedy the issue is Anthony Martial whose performances in pre-season wherein he bagged three goals and generally impressed with his work-rate and endeavour had fans purring.
The injury-enforced absence of Martial from the starting line-up has made Ten Hag’s job that much more difficult.
The French striker’s injury woes has meant that he was only available for a cameo against Liverpool, wherein he supplied the assist to Marcus Rashford for the winner.
Not many United fans would have predicted that United would struggle without Martial up top, especially after the disappointing last 18 months he had with the Red Devils which included a disastrous loan stint with Sevilla with the La Liga club opting against signing him permanently.
New contract incoming
But here we are. A career which looked set to be over after the Dutch manager was appointed has suddenly flickered to life and Martial looks set for an extended stay at Old Trafford.
According to The Sun, the 26-year-old has impressed Ten Hag to such an extent that the former Ajax boss sees him as a long-term prospect and United are set to open contract extension talks soon which will likely see him stay at Old Trafford into his 30s.
The former Monaco attacker’s contract with the 20-time English champions still has two years left to run but after Ten Hag’s glowing report, United do not want their star striker to enter the final year of his contract without having his future sorted.
Martial currently earns around £250,000-a-week and that is likely to be bumped up as well. He had arrived back in 2015 when Louis van Gaal was manager and has been a fan favourite ever since his debut heroics against Liverpool.
It has been quite the turnaround for the France international’s fortunes and he will now look to work on his fitness to ensure his injury woes do not affect him too much this season with Ten Hag counting on him.
