Sevilla sporting director Monchi insists the club won’t “close the door” on signing Man Utd forward Anthony Martial permanently despite the “high cost” involved.
The France international joined the Red Devils in 2015 from Monaco for a fee that could rise to £58m depending on various clauses.
However, despite scoring 17 Premier League goals in the 2019/20 season, Martial has not lived up to his potential at Man Utd with the club deciding to loan him out to Sevilla in the January transfer window.
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He had only made 11 appearances for the Red Devils this campaign before his temporary move to La Liga but he has failed to hit the ground running in Spain.
Martial hasn’t scored in eight La Liga appearances since his January move but did grab one goal in the Europa League.
Despite his poor form, Monchi thinks the Man Utd loanee could still have a longer future at Sevilla with the sporting director describing him as a “magnificent player”.
“Martial is a magnificent player, he is very good, but he has arrived without knowing the language, the city… he has had injuries,” Monchi told Radio Sevilla (via Sport Witness).
“He has a high cost, because he cost €80m, and a very high salary, although we don’t have to pay for everything, because a good negotiation was made when we got his [loan] transfer. I don’t close the door to his continuity, although there are many things to see.
“Unfortunately, it is difficult to analyse Martial’s performances when he has been injured and now, he has been injured again.
“His loan deal has been less expensive than people think, but it is still an important bet. Nothing of six or seven million. He is a player who needs to be one hundred percent because of his muscles. Yesterday he was playing a good game [against Real Madrid].”
Martial’s progress at Sevilla has been hampered by injuries with the France international coming off on 41 minutes in their 3-2 loss to Real Madrid on Sunday.
And Monchi has confirmed that Martial will miss their midweek fixture against Cadiz but hopes he will be fit again soon.
“For Thursday he will surely not be there, it does not look good. Several weeks? No, no, because then I would die, we hope that he can play again in the remainder of the season.”
Martial said last week that he imagined it would be “very complicated” for him to remain at Sevilla past the end of this season, while he blamed injuries and the “language barrier” on his slow adaptation.
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