AC Milan and Juventus will reportedly face stiff competition from Atletico Madrid if they step up their pursuit of Man Utd’s Anthony Martial next year.
The Frenchman continues to struggle to establish himself in Jose Mourinho’s starting line-up at Old Trafford, as although he made 45 appearances last season, scoring 11 goals and providing nine assists, he rarely enjoyed an extended run in the XI.
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With his current contract set to expire next summer, it has been claimed that he is in talks to sign a new deal, as per BBC Sport, which would suggest that he perhaps sees his future with the Premier League giants.
However, Calciomercato note that in addition to Milan and Juventus being interested, reports in Spain have claimed that Atletico Madrid are also keen on the possibility of prising the 22-year-old to La Liga if his future doesn’t lie with the Red Devils.
Milan’s interest is easy to understand given that although they added Samu Castillejo to the the squad this summer, they still arguably lack an out-and-out pacy winger to offer a different dynamic in the final third for Gennaro Gattuso.
Juve seem blessed with great attacking options including the likes of Douglas Costa, Juan Cuadrado, Mario Mandzukic and Federico Bernardeschi in the wide positions to support Cristiano Ronaldo and Paulo Dybala, and so a move to Turin might not be a sensible idea.
Similarly, Atleti boast a world-class attack with Diego Costa and Antoine Griezmann as well as having the likes of Thomas Lemar, Vitolo, Gelson Martins and Angel Correa to play out wide, and so Martial could have his hands full gaining regular playing time there too.
Time will tell if he does sign a new deal which could end speculation over his future, but from United’s perspective it is a sensible strategy to protect their interests either way as they will try to avoid losing Martial for nothing next summer.