Anthony Martial has made a dream start to his Manchester United career with four goals already this season. United looked stodgy at the start of the campaign, grinding out wins rather than being emphatic, but since the Frenchman’s arrival they have looked a much better footballing prospect. You will be hard pressed to find a critic denying Martial’s quality right now, which is a marked contrast to the situation on deadline day when fans and pundits alike were wondering why United had just spent £36 million on an ‘unknown French youngster’.
Granted, the misreporting of Martial’s transfer fee didn’t help, with reports claiming that the fee was closer to £60 million, whereas in reality the add-ons requiring him to become the world’s best player were what made the fee seem so astronomical. However, it is quite surprising how little was known about Martial prior to his deadline day move. United’s latest superstar didn’t feature on Copa 90’s ‘Top 10 Best Young Players in Europe’, nor did he appear on the Guardian’s list of top young players last spring. France Football Magazine who, being French, are far more likely to know about him, still only placed him as the thirteenth best young footballer in the world, just behind Emre Can.
Many of these lists contain the same dozen or so names of well-known youngsters who are constantly linked to the top English clubs, or have commanded large transfer fees in the past. Almost all of them will go on to become top players (and some are top players already), but judging potential is one of the more subjective aspects of what is still a very subjective sport, and these lists will get it wrong from time to time.
Martial’s lack of prominence on these lists explains why few people had heard of him. With only a basic knowledge of teams outside of the biggest leagues, most fans don’t know too much about up-and-coming foreign players. Many wondered why United would spend such money on a player who at that time hadn’t received an international cap. But the lack of international caps is understandable for a nineteen year old, and most of those fans would have seen a similar fee as a bargain if it were used to bring an at-that-time uncapped Harry Kane to Old Trafford. Fans of other clubs were mocking United for what looked like an expensive mistake rather than a great young signing that wrapped up a highly successful transfer window for the red side of Manchester.
That Martial was not well identified by the pundits highlights something that any manager-bashing writer should remember. The people involved in running football are usually far more knowledgeable than those who write about it. Pundits shouldn’t be surprised by this. After all, Manchester United have dozens of professional scouts who could easily have watched Martial for every game last season and even seen how he trains, found out about his attitude and family life, and carried out detailed physical tests.
Without the luxury of time and money to jet off to France every week, many writers are reliant on word-of-mouth from other writers, or on low quality resources such as a youtube highlight reel, where even the worst of players can be made to look good. When criticizing a manager’s decisions, writers should also remember that they might not have the full information and reasons behind the star player’s absence from the squad list or early substitution.
Martial is not the first player to have been overlooked by writers, and he won’t be the last. James Rodriquez was described as being ‘the breakout star’ of the 2014 World Cup, despite having already made a €45 million move to Monaco at that stage of his career.
The 2014 World Cup golden boot winner was left off numerous top-ten lists including Kenny Dalglish’s list of players that will star in Brazil as well as CBS news’ ‘ten players to watch’. Coincidentally, both Martial and James were at Monaco when they were being overlooked by reporters. The lesson that we can learn from Martial and James is that people should look beyond the usual top-ten lists and try and watch more global football in order to discover the world’s next superstars.
