Paul Pogba wasn’t the only France international who could have been forgiven for popping a bottle of vintage Bordeaux when Jose Mourinho got the boot in December 2019.
The rapid and well-publicised decline of the Pogba-Mourinho relationship did little to strengthen the manager’s hand at Manchester United. But if the Old Trafford boss had succeeded in coaxing a little more out of his mercurial, £36 million forward, perhaps his time at Carrington wouldn’t have ended so quickly?
Anthony Martial failed to hit double figures in the Premier League during any of Mourinho’s seasons at United, scoring just four times in 2016/17.
And while the Portuguese tactician is far from the only coach who has struggled to get the one-time Monaco starlet performing consistently – Martial’s form dropped off a cliff under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer following a promising 2019/20 – the cavernous divisions between striker and coach certainly didn’t help.
According to The Times, Mourinho was desperate to sell the 25-year-old, believing he was too “mentally weak” for the top level.
Following a disastrous 3-1 defeat to West Ham in 2018 – a result that sparked the beginning of the end for Jose at United – Mourinho laid the blame at the door of his struggling number 11.
“I’d have preferred it if (Mourinho) had told me (his criticism) directly. There’s no need to say it in front of everybody. After that, you definitely want to prove him wrong,” Martial later told RMC Sport, questioning how Mourinho slamming his players in public would help those who lacked confidence.
“It can get to you,” the striker added.
It’s no coincidence Martial, during the next 18 months or so, looked a man reborn after Mourinho’s acrimonious exit – a weight lifted from his sloping shoulders.
And now the 58-year-old has been given his marching orders at Tottenham too, perhaps Martial’s much-mooted move from Manchester to London could finally become reality?
Yesterday, the Daily Mail reported Martial had been identified by some at Spurs as a player capable of stepping into a void created by Harry Kane’s potential departure.
It isn’t the first time the silky Frenchman has been linked with Tottenham either. In 2018, The Telegraph reported Martial would have jumped at the chance to leave Mourinho’s Man United for Mauricio Pochettino’s Spurs.
When Daniel Levy handed the keys to Mourinho in 2019, the hope was one of the game’s most high-profile managers would open doors for Tottenham to target players previously beyond them.
Could the opposite be true instead?
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