Mourinho To Martial: Your Future Is Here At United, Don’t Listen To Your Agent

Jose Mourinho has warned Anthony Martial not to listen to his agent and insists the Frenchman’s future lies with Manchester United. Earlier this week Martial's representative, Philippe Lamboley, claimed the 21years old is wanted by Sevilla and that an agreement for him to leave Old Trafford could be reached during the January transfer window.

However, Mourinho insists he rates Martial very highly and is adamant the forward will not be leaving Old Trafford. Martial played 90 minutes in the Premier League for the first time season against Middlesbrough on Saturday and scored the equaliser in United's dramatic 2-1 victory. That was just Martial's second league goal of the season, as he has so far failed to match the heights he reached during his debut campaign when he was the club's top scorer with 11 Premier League goals.

Mourinho has a wealth of options in attacking midfield with Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Juan Mata, Jesse Lingard, Marcus Rashford, Wayne Rooney, Ashley Young and Memphis Depay all competing for playing time. Martial's inconsistent form has seen him fall down the pecking order as he has managed to start just four of United's past 16 league matches after starting each of the opening three. Mourinho believes Martial should follow the example of Mkhitaryan, who has fought his back into the starting line-up after being dropped earlier in the season. 

Speaking about Martial, Mourinho said “Anthony has to listen to me and not his agent. He has to listen to me. He has to listen to me in training every day, in every feedback I give to try to improve players. With Martial, every day I read the newspaper; Martial goes to Sevilla, Martial goes on loan, Martial is not happy. Martial has to listen to me. He is a player with amazing conditions to be a top player. I know that he [Martial] is a top talent, I knew that Mkhitaryan was a top talent and I was not playing him. In this moment he [Mkhitaryan] even plays left-back when the team is winning, to defend with a little bit more balance. The Mkhitaryan process, I was having almost every day Mkhitaryan's agent calling me and saying he will be a better player with you, keep going.”