Jose Mourinho has ‘no fears’ that Anthony Martial will find his form at Manchester United
JOSE MOURINHO has opened up about out of favour striker Anthony Martial and has vowed to stand by the unsettled player.
The United boss praised the 'great kid' despite the 21-year-old French international struggling to force his way into Mourinho's starting line up.
In an exclusive interview with French broadcaster, Mourinho said: "Anthony, I think, is very young for a start. People forget that he is very young.
"Last season Manchester United was playing completely different than we do today.
"He was basically playing up front. The team had lots of passive ball possession, just waiting for a moment to put the ball in a space for Anthony to go and to score a goal."
Mourinho added: "This season is more difficult. He needs, I think, a little bit of time to improve.
"At the same time we have so many good players in similar positions," he said. "Martial, [Juan] Mata, [Henrikh] Mkhitaryan, [Wayne] Rooney - all of them in these positions that surround Zlatan [Ibrahimovic].
"And I cannot give them four, five, six, seven matches in a row when I have other people on the sidelines waiting for a chance."
Martial, who has made four of his 11 Premier League appearances from the bench, became the most expensive teenager in football history when he joined United from Monaco for an initial £36m back in September 2015.
"I try to give him chances," explained the Portuguese boss. "In fact I gave him good chances because I played him against Tottenham and I played him against Arsenal. I played him in some big matches, it's taking a little bit of time.
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"But, great kid. Good boy, he wants to improve, he's a good professional. I have no fears, I am sure that he will be there."
Reports claim that United have no intention of letting Martial leave Old Trafford, with the Frenchman needed for back-up.
But the Red Devils could struggle to keep him in January, with Martial open to playing abroad for the remainder of the campaign.
Martial's agent Philippe Lamboley confirmed to a Spanish radio station the player had received an offer to join La Liga outfit Sevilla and they were 'studying the option in detail'.
