Manchester United manager, Jose Mourinho does not know if Anthony Martial will return to the club as doubts grow over the unsettled forward’s future at Old Trafford.
The Frenchman left the club’s pre-season tour of the United States to attend the birth of his second child in Paris, but afterwards, failed to re-join his team-mates in the USA.
The 22-year-old, who has been strongly linked with a move away after his agent claimed Martial wanted to leave for more opportunities, was absent from United’s 2-1 International Champions Cup win over Real Madrid on Tuesday.
As United prepare to return to Europe ahead of their Premier League opener against Leicester City on August 10, manager Mourinho refused to give any assurances that Martial will return.
Asked whether Martial would link up with United, Mourinho said: “Anthony Martial? Is better for [press officer] Karen [Shotbolt] to answer if she wants to answer.”
The question was redirected to United press officer Shotbolt and he responded: “We’re here to talk about the game.”
When pressed further on Martial, Mourinho replied with a terse: “I don’t know.”
“With the fantastic spirit we have in the majority of the players, I repeat: in the majority of the players, we have a fantastic spirit, we go with everything we have to the Premier League,” Mourinho said.
“In relation to the match [against Real Madrid], the match doesn’t change anything,” Mourinho added. “My professional players were amazing all pre-season because they know we play against good teams, against good opponents. We have just a few players here, lots of kids, our kids are really, really young because the team of all the ones in the Under-23s were relegated, the team went to the second division.
“So the game today, win 2-1, lose 2-1, draw 2-2, doesn’t change anything but of course I know the players I can count on, these guys are amazing professionals, they give everything for the club, for the prestige of the club, is not nice to come here and lose 5 or 6-1 versus Real Madrid today and they were phenomenal.”
A host of heavyweights including Tottenham and Chelsea have both been linked with the attacker from the Premier League, while Marseille and Bayern Munich also hold an interest.
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