Why Anthony Martial's crucial goal against Newcastle cost Manchester United £7.7m
Anthony Martial netted a crucial goal as Manchester United produced a stunning comeback to beat Newcastle, however it has also cost his club a large sum of cash.
Martial’s curling strike levelled the scores at 2-0 after United had found themselves 2-0 down, before Alexis Sanchez nodded home the winner in added-on time.
It was an important moment for Martial, whose relationship with Jose Mourinho has come under plenty of scrutiny and was looking for a move elsewhere in the summer – a move Mourinho vetted, but the board were against.
READ MORE: Conte, Zidane… Ranieri? 10 tempting out of work managers
READ MORE: Chelsea ‘powerless’ to stop Hazard joining Real
READ MORE: If not Mourinho, then what next for Manchester United?
Although he scored in the Champions League victory over Young Boys, it was the first time he had found the net in the Premier League since a clash with Burnley in January.
Martial now has 25 league goals to his name since moving from Monaco in 2015, a figure that means United owe Monaco another £7.7m, say The Mail.
They paid £38.5m for the Frenchman back in 2015, but the deal included three different causes that could mean the figure eventually climbs to £61m.
One of them was 25 league goals, another £7.7m will be due if Martial reaches 25 caps for his country while he is still a United player – he has 17 currently – and the third £7.7m would be due if Martial won the Ballon d’Or.
Despite his obvious talent, Martial’s progress has slowed down since Mourinho took charge at Old Trafford in 2016.
The duo’s relationship reached boiling point in the summer when Mourinho claimed Martial had gone AWOL. He had actually travelled home to be with his wife for the birth of his child, but was still fined two weeks’ wages.
If Mourinho remains in charge at United, Martial looks unlikely to stay.
While United will want to recoup some of the fee they have paid, Monaco inserted a 50 per cent sell-on fee in the deal back in 2015, meaning they’d be due a large chunk of anything that United received.
