90min

Anthony Martial could miss rest of 2020/21 season with knee injury

By Toby Cudworth

Martial hobbled off with help from France's physio
Martial hobbled off with help from France's physio / FRANCK FIFE/Getty Images
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Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has confirmed that Anthony Martial sprained his knee on international duty with France, and could be ruled out for the remainder of the 2020/21 season.

The Red Devils' number nine had joined up with Les Blues for their trio of World Cup qualifiers at the end of March, but manager Didier Deschamps was forced to withdraw Martial during the 2-0 win over Kazakhstan.

It wasn't really known how serious Martial's injury was, despite initial comments from Deschamps, but Solskjaer - speaking to MUTV before United's Premier League clash with Brighton - suggested he was likely to miss the remainder of the domestic campaign.

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Martial was on international duty with France when he picked up the injury / FRANCK FIFE/Getty Images

It wasn't known how serious Martial's injury was, but Solskjaer - speaking to MUTV before United's Premier League clash with Brighton - suggested he was likely to miss the remainder of the domestic campaign.

“Unfortunately, he sprained his knee with France. It’s always when they go away on internationals… you can keep your fingers crossed and hope they come back fit," Solskjaer told MUTV, quoted by the club's official website.

"Paul has played in all three games, 30, 60, 90 minutes, so that was a boost for us. Losing Anthony for what might be the rest of the season is very disappointing, especially when the reports & signals are from there that it's wasn't (anything) serious but it looks a bad one, yeah".

However, speaking to BT Sport less than hour before kick off against Brighton, Solskjaer backtracked slightly, saying: "He sprained his knee with France and it looks like he'll be out for a few weeks, definitely. But we hope to get him back before the end of the season but we're not sure"

Martial hasn't been in the best goalscoring form for Manchester United, netting just four Premier League goals in 22 appearances to date. He's often been rotated for Edinson Cavani, who joined the club on a free transfer last summer, and has completed a full 90 minutes just six times.

Anthony Martial
2020/21 has been frustrating on the whole for Martial / Soccrates Images/Getty Images

Despite his lacklustre goal record, which marks a significant drop off from the 17 Premier League goals he netted in 2019/20, Martial had a decent chance of going to this summer's European Championship with France, evidenced by his call-up for their recent qualifiers.

He likely wouldn't have been a regular starter, owing to the continued good form on the international stage of Olivier Giroud and Antoine Griezmann, but nine appearances for his country since the beginning of 2020 suggests Deschamps has plenty of faith in his ability.

There is no confirmed timeframe for his absence, and it's too early to say whether Martial will definitely be ruled out of the Euros. But it does appear that Solskjaer has resigned himself to losing the 25-year-old for the remainder of the Premier League season, increasing the pressure on Cavani, Marcus Rashford and Mason Greenwood to help supplement the goals regularly provided by Bruno Fernandes.

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