Anthony Martial injury: Manchester United hit by major blow with striker ‘out for season’

Solskjaer fears Martial will miss remainder of United’s campaign

Mark Critchley
Northern Football Correspondent
Sunday 04 April 2021 19:09 BST
Comments
(AFP via Getty Images)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Anthony Martial will potentially miss the rest of Manchester United’s season after suffering a knee injury while on international duty with France.

Martial was not part of United’s squad to play Brighton and Hove Albion at Old Trafford in Sunday’s late kick-off and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer confirmed that the 25-year-old’s problem was more serious than first feared.

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

“Losing Anthony for what might be the rest of the season is very disappointing, especially when the reports and signals from [France] were that it wasn't serious but it looks like a bad one.”

Martial was forced off during the second half of France’s 2-0 World Cup qualifying win over Kazakhstan in Nur-Sultan last Sunday.

Read more:

The United forward, who had set up Ousmane Dembele’s opening goal, continued for a few minutes after suffering the initial injury but was soon replaced by Kylian Mbappe.

A video uploaded to Instagram on Sunday by Martial’s wife Melanie Da Cruz showed him wearing a large protective brace around his left knee.

The injury leaves Solskjaer reliant on Edinson Cavani as his first-choice central striker, with Marcus Rashford and Mason Greenwood able to deputise up top.

Both Cavani and Rashford have struggled with injuries at times this season.

Rashford is carrying a shoulder problem which may require surgery after this summer’s European Championship, while Cavani has played just two of United’s last six Premier League games due to fitness issues.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in