"We know Jose [Mourinho]. He likes the players he likes and he likes them to have a certain mentality."
Sunday 6 May 2018 13:08, UK
Will Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford still be at Manchester United next season? The Sunday Supplement panel discuss…
The futures of Martial and Rashford are once again up for discussion after the pair failed to make an impact when starting against Brighton at the Amex Stadium on Friday Night Football in place of Romelu Lukaku and Alexis Sanchez, but both struggled to influence the game as Pascal Gross' header secured Chris Hughton's side's Premier League survival.
Without naming names, Jose Mourinho laid into his Manchester United players following the defeat, and said some of his stand-in players proved why they are not picked every week.
Since then United have been linked in the Sunday papers with an £80m swap deal with Chelsea, which would see Martial move to Stamford Bridge in a player-plus-cash deal involving Willian.
And chief football writer for Sunday People Steve Bates thinks Martial's time at Old Trafford could be running out.
Speaking on Sunday Supplement, he said: "There's a great deal of frustration at United, particularly amongst Jose Mourinho and his staff, that Martial is not really accelerating his progress.
"He's hit a bit of a wall at United and it's a bit of a Catch 22. He's not getting the regular starts and the regular games. When he does get a start and a game, as we saw at Brighton on Friday night, he stumbles and stutters, and doesn't really perform.
"There's a feeling in the boardroom at United that they don't want him to go," he added. "They went out on a limb to get him. They paid an awful lot of money for a 19-year-old boy that nobody had really heard much of from Monaco. He's only played about 30 games for them when United shocked everybody and paid £36m for him.
"But of course, we know Jose. He likes the players he likes and he likes them to have a certain mentality.
"In Willian he's got a player that's got a cast-iron mentality. There have been several occasions in the last 12 or 18 months where Jose has had little spats with Martial and been in the press, calling him out a little bit.
"It's not always the wisest move with young players but that's what he does sometimes. They're reaching a point now where Romelu Lukaku and Alexis Sanchez are the main two strikers at Manchester United. There's no getting away from that and whether Martial is going to be in the picture next season I'm not quite so sure."
Meanwhile, there have been several calls for England forward Rashford to start in more games after his playing time was reduced following the arrival of Sanchez, while Martial has started 17 Premier League games this term.
But Bates, who wrote the Martial swap deal story, thinks Rashford may have to get used to cameo appearances at United, with Lukaku and Sanchez Mourinho's first choice strikers.
He said: "Rashford is frustrated because he again seems to have taken a step backwards from a position where for all the world it looked like he was going to be United's striker for years to come.
"But again the arrival of Lukaku and then Sanchez has knocked him back as well.
"You can't really see that situation changing very quickly because Jose will always go for the tried and trusted and maybe Rashford will have to contend with another cameo role next season, playing for 15 to 20 minutes or playing in the games where Jose doesn't start with Sanchez or Lukaku."
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