Ruben Amorim is catching a lot of flak for his ruthlessness at Man Utd of late, but nobody comes close to Jose Mourinho in that regard, as the latest anecdote has emerged.
Jose Mourinho’s time at Manchester United will be remembered as a mix of euphoria, vindication, and frustration in equal parts.
As is the case with him, those who like him, like Scott McTominay, swear by his name and are willing to run through brick walls for him.
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Those who don’t like him can feel it the way Mourinho treats them, and that is what happened to a Man Utd player at the time, who, in Mourinho’s words, he would do everything to sell.
Jose Mourinho, Manager of Manchester United walks towards the tunnel after the Premier League match between Manchester United and Chelsea at Old Trafford on April 16, 2017
Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images
Jose Mourinho’s remarkable Anthony Martial story
Mourinho quickly made an enemy at Old Trafford, and it was to nobody’s surprise that the enemy was Anthony Martial.
From the very first moment, Martial’s style of play, slack professional standards, and his playing profile seemed polar opposite to what Mourinho wants in a forward.
He remained a bit-part player for Mourinho in his first two years as he brought the likes of Romelu Lukaku and Alexis Sanchez to push him further down the order.
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13 goals in the first two PL seasons under Mourinho finally broke Mourinho’s patience with the Frenchman, and The Daily Mail has now reported that a frustrated Mourinho ‘secretly’ told reporters on the pre-season tour of 2018 that he would do everything to sell Martial.
The report states: “On tour in the US in 2018, after telling the media at a press conference in San Jose there was no guarantee that Anthony Martial would be allowed to leave, he left the room and then secretly summoned three reporters to tell us that he would do everything he could to sell the Frenchman.”
The 2018/19 pre-season was a torturous one for Mourinho as the board failed him, signing just Fred, Lee Grant, and Diogo Dalot, failing to match Mourinho’s ambition.
Martial was set to be cut by the ruthless Portuguese, but the reason he failed is why many managers after him failed as well.
Mourinho failing on Martial stance summed up Man Utd
If Man Utd fans are worried about how Ineos are running the club, they can at least take some solace that the likes of Ed Woodward are gone.
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Mourinho was infamously blocked from selling Martial because he was apparently a favourite of the Glazers, and that player power culture seeped into the club, hurting United for years to come.
Erik ten Hag started to fight back against it, and Ruben Amorim is now getting the full support to tackle the culture that planted its roots back then.
Martial was a good player on his day, but United were quick to reward flashes of brilliance in those days at the cost of keeping a tight ship.
Martial would find some form under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, earning a six-year contract on huge wages, one that would see him leave in the summer of 2024 on a free transfer.
Today, he’s struggling to make a mark in Mexican football, after being released by Greek side AEK Athens at the end of the last season.
Nobody can say for sure that Mourinho was right at the time, but what his failure to get his wish signified was much more than an isolated decision.
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