Late in the first half during Manchester United’s Premier League meeting with West Ham at Old Trafford, Christian Eriksen hung up a gorgeous cross to the far post. If you’d squinted, you would have been forgiven for assuming it was Cristiano Ronaldo leaping like a salmon to power the ball past Lukasz Fabianski with an iron-clad forehead.
Instead, it was Marcus Rashford wheeling away in celebration; Erik Ten Hag’s resurgent number ten following up that brilliant finish against Sheriff Tiraspol with another thumping header as retro as and ‘90s-inspired as United’s home shirt.
Rashford is not the only free-scoring centre-forward who has added another string to his bow this season either. Like the in-form England international, Martin Terrier had proven himself to be an emphatic finisher in one-v-one situations. A lethal penalty tacker, and a forward at his most effective when firing fizzing shots into the bottom corner after bursting into the box.
But if there was one glaring weakness in Terrier’s game, like that of Rashford’s, it was his heading ability. Or a lack thereof. Until this season, Rennes’ former Lyon starlet had scored just four headed goals.
It’s testament to his insatiable desire for self-improvement, then, that only one player in Europe’s top five leagues has now scored more headers this season than Martin Terrier.
Martin Terrier a target for Arsenal, Leeds and Newcastle United
After nodding home twice against former club Lyon in October, Terrier repeated the trick as in-form Rennes swept Montpellier aside at the weekend. He’s now scored as many headers in 16 games as he did in his previous 53. A tally only bettered across the continent by Tottenham Hotspur talisman Harry Kane.
“It’s flattering to hear people say that I deserve (a place in France’s World Cup squad),” explains Terrier, dubbed ‘Europe’s most improved player’ by one publication. “When you’re French, you always aspire to wear this jersey, and defend your country.”
This is already shaping up to be one of the most important periods in Terrier’s career. The World Cup is now just weeks away. And a couple of eye-catching performances in Qatar – should he secure a seat on the plane – will almost-certainly make the fleet-footed 25-year-old one of Europe’s most coveted players ahead the January transfer window.
Premier League-bound?
According to 90Min, Arsenal, Manchester United, Newcastle, Leicester, Wolves and Aston Villa have all scouted Terrier recently. Leeds too.
“(Leeds) have done a lot of analysis of Terrier at Rennes,” reporter and Elland Road expert Phil Hay explains. “That is a concrete link. That isn’t say that they will do it or that they can afford him. But they like him enough to do that background on him.”
“Martin Terrier has all the qualities of a high-level player,” coach Bruno Genesio tells the Ligue 1 website. “Tactically and in his movements. He’s attacking more aggressively too.”
Now, having done like Rashford and unlocked the one attribute previously missing from his repertoire, the sky feels like the limit for Martin Terrier.
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