Here's the surprising silver lining in Man United's forgettable season

It's been the sort of season that has left Manchester United looking for silver linings. In spite of all the investment and renewed hopes, the drab and mirthless Red Devils refuse to stage a credible title challenge even though every other team has been so forgettable that Leicester City still leads the league in early February.

So here's a silver lining: Anthony Martial.

United has made many questionable decisions recently, especially in the transfer market. But the acquisition of a 19-year-old French striker who had made just 16 Ligue 1 starts in his first full season with AS Monaco's senior team last year, in which he got nine goals, for what would probably amount to the sixth-biggest transfer fee ever – after some very achievable bonuses are triggered – seemed the strangest yet.

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And it probably was. Manager Louis van Gaal likes young strikers, but even he had to concede Martial's purchase was made with an eye to the future, and not the next few seasons. Besides, United had struck out in the pursuit of just about every other striker. But expectations were inflated anyway, and perhaps even understandably so with a $90 million price tag. And with no other strikers but the quickly aging Wayne Rooney available, he would be playing a lot and needing to deliver immediately yields on his investment.

There was seemingly no way Martial could live up to it all. He was being set up to fail in the most callous of fashions. He was simply too young, too expensive and too overhyped to live up to all that he was suddenly being asked to be. Not to become, but to be – now.

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But Martial, somehow, has managed to produce. For a team with an anemic offense that has gotten no momentum going all season. A club which, in that sense and some others as well, perhaps presented one of the worst situations he could find himself in.

Yet Martial has scored six league goals just over the halfway mark of the season, a very respectable total for a now-20-year-old striker. He has proven mature in his playing style and helpful in possession, including when he isn't scoring. He even has three assists. He got one of each on Tuesday as United shook off its torpor, for a game at least, by beating Stoke City 3-0 at home.

In the first half, Martial calmly settled a cross-box ball from Rooney and curled it into the far top corner to bring the score to 2-0.

Then, in the second half, he returned the favor with a low drive back to Rooney, who ran the score up to 3-0.

There is every chance that when it's over, United will want to forget this campaign, just as it's wanted to forget each campaign since Sir Alex Ferguson departed with one last, emphatic Premier League title in 2012-13.

But if it accomplishes nothing else, it will have at the very least witnessed the survival of Martial in the face of those staggering odds conspiring against him. And perhaps some good will come of it all, and in time he actually makes good on that silly sum of money laid out for him.

Leander Schaerlaeckens is a soccer columnist for Yahoo Sports. Follow him on Twitter @LeanderAlphabet.