Anthony Jordan Martial (born December 5, 1995) is a French professional footballer who plays forward for Premier League club Manchester United.
Martial began his professional career at Lyon after playing youth football for Les Ulis. In 2013, he paid €6 million to join AS Monaco.
He spent two seasons with Monaco before joining Manchester United in 2015 for an initial fee of £36 million plus £21.6 million in future incentive payments, the largest fee paid for a teenager in football history at the time. He received the 2015 Golden Boy Award for Europe’s best under-21 player.
Martial won the FA Cup in his rookie season at Manchester United, establishing himself as one of the world’s most promising young players.
His progress stopped the next season, but he won more trophies under Jose Mourinho’s leadership.
Martial had his best-ever goalscoring season in 2019-20, scoring 23 times across all competitions, and was named Manchester United Players’ Player of the Year.
However, his form dropped in subsequent seasons, and in January 2022, Martial was loaned to Spanish club Sevilla until the conclusion of the 2021-22 season.
Martial made his senior debut in 2015, having previously represented France at the under-16 and under-21 levels.
He was nominated to France’s UEFA Euro 2016 squad and appeared in the final, when they were defeated by Portugal.
Early Life
Martial is of Guadeloupean descent. His older brother, Johan, is a professional defender who has represented France up to the under-20 level.
He has another older brother, Dorian, who captained the senior team at Les Ulis.
The Martial family emphasized their children’s education. His youth coaches recall him as being bashful and quiet. Martial is Roman Catholic.
Club career
To start, Martial made his professional debut on December 6, 2013, against Lyon in the Europa League group stage.
He agreed toAnthony Martial Bio a three-year contract worth €5 million, including incentives, with AS Monaco on June 30, 2013.
Furthermore, Anthony scored his first goal in European competition on August 4, 2015, in a 4-0 home victory over BSC Young Boys in the UEFA Champions League.
On September 1, 2015, he agreed to terms with Manchester United on a four-year contract for £36 million to £58 million.
During the 2015-16 season, Martial was named ‘PFA Fan of the Month,’ ‘Goal of the Month,’ ‘Premier League Player of the Month,’ and ‘Golden Boy as Europe’s best under-21.’
In addition, Anthony won his first European trophy as a substitute in the 2017 UEFA Europa League Final in May.
During the 2017-2018 season, he helped his club win against West Ham United, Swansea City, Everton, Burton upon Trent, CSKA Moscow, Tottenham, Watford, Newcastle United, Stoke City, Burnley, and others.
Manchester United
Martial joined Manchester United on a four-year contract with a one-year option on September 1, 2015.
This was the largest transfer fee paid for a teenager, surpassing the previous record of £27 million paid by United for Luke Shaw a year earlier and Paris Saint-Germain for Marquinhos in 2013.
United paid £36 million up front for Martial, but his contract had three bonus clauses at £7.2 million each, bringing the total possible sum to £57.6 million.
Only one of the three incentive clauses was met, thus the total fee was £44.7 million.
The stipulations were individually tied to specific feats being fulfilled in the four years following the move, such as Martial scoring 25 goals, earning 25 caps for France, or winning the Ballon d’Or by June 2019.
Manager Louis van Gaal described Martial as an acquisition for United’s future rather than for immediate usage, and he dubbed the transfer fee “ridiculous,” claiming that Manchester United was often required to spend £10 million more than other teams.
Martial made his Premier League debut for Manchester United in a 3-2 loss against Brighton in 2018-19.
Martial had three further Premier League substitute appearances in August and September before being named to the starting lineup against West Ham United on September 30.
However, two weeks earlier, Martial started Manchester United’s Champions League opener and scored his first goal of the season in a 3-0 victory over Young Boys of Bern.
Martial’s first league goal came in a 3-2 comeback victory over Newcastle United, where he also started.
After that match, Martial started and scored in every Premier League game until the November International Break, including goals against Bournemouth and Everton, two against Chelsea, and a penalty in the Manchester derby.
With this run of goals, Martial became one of seven Manchester United players to score in five consecutive league games. Martial also received Manchester United’s October Player of the Month award.
On November 24, Martial started and played the entire 90 minutes of United’s goalless draw with Crystal Palace.
This followed concerns that he would miss the game owing to an injury sustained on international service.
Martial also played the whole 90 minutes against Young Boys in the Champions League, which United won 1-0 to go to the knockout stage.
After missing United’s encounter against Southampton, Martial appeared in the club’s home game against Arsenal, scoring his eighth goal of the season in a 2-2 draw.
On December 17, 2018, United exercised an option to extend Martial’s contract, keeping him with the club until 2020.
On December 22, under new manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Martial scored his tenth goal of the season in a 5-1 win over Cardiff City.
On January 25, 2019, Martial scored Manchester United’s third goal in a 3-1 FA Cup fourth round win over Arsenal; it was his first goal of the season and his tenth overall.
On January 31, 2019, Martial signed a new five-year contract with Manchester United. On February 9, Martial assisted Paul Pogba’s opener before scoring the second goal in United’s 3-0 victory over Fulham.
Martial returned as a substitute against Arsenal on March 10 after suffering an injury against PSG the previous month.
Later that month, he added the second goal in a 2-1 victory over Watford.
Martial scored his first goal of the season on October 2 in a 1–1 draw against Everton.
Sevilla loan
On January 25, 2022, Martial was loaned out to Spanish club Sevilla until the conclusion of the season. He scored one goal in 12 games for the club in the Europa League but none in La Liga.
International career
Martial scored five goals, two of which came in a 5-0 victory against the Faroe Islands and three against Northern Ireland in Luxembourg, to help France win their qualification group for the 2012 UEFA European Under-17 Championship.
In the elite round, he defeated Sweden and Switzerland twice more to guarantee qualifying. In the final tournament in Slovenia, he scored once in the group stage in a 2-2 draw with Iceland at Domžale Sports Park.
Martial played all five games for France’s under-19 team at the 2013 European Championship in Lithuania, where they finished second to Serbia. He was one of five Frenchmen named to the Tournament Team.
Martial received his first call-up to the senior France team on August 26, 2015, for the friendly matches against Portugal and Serbia the following month.
He made his first appearance in the former on September 4 at Lisbon’s Estádio José Alvalade, replacing Karim Benzema for the final 16 minutes of a 1-0 victory.
On October 11, at Parken Stadium in Copenhagen, Martial made his Les Bleus debut and assisted Olivier Giroud’s first goal in a 2-1 victory over Denmark.
Martial’s efforts with Manchester United in the 2015-16 season won him a spot on France’s 23-man team for Euro 2016, where the country finished second.
On May 17, 2018, Martial was named to the standby list for France’s 23-man World Cup team in Russia.
However, he did not make the final roster for the tournament, which saw France win the title for the second time.
Personal Life
Martial was born in Guadeloupe. Anthony’s older brother, Johan, is also a professional footballer. His other elder brother, Dorian, captained the senior team at Les Ulis.
The Manchester United striker and his ex-partner Samantha, have a daughter named Toto.
Net Worth
His current net worth is estimated to be €30 million (25 million pounds) as of October 2023.
Manchester United spent 57.6 million pounds for him (with add-ons), and his current market value is estimated to be 65 million euros (58 million pounds).