Mark Goldbridge has reacted to news that Anthony Martial is now back on the grass at Carrington following his latest injury setback at Manchester United.
What's the latest on Manchester United forward Anthony Martial?
According to The Evening Standard, Martial has been spotted in training pictures at Manchester United's Carrington training complex despite failing to feature in a single pre-season friendly for the Red Devils.
The report adds that the France international could feature in some capacity against Wolverhampton Wanderers on Monday at Old Trafford as new signing Rasmus Hojlund has been ruled out for a 'few weeks' with a back concern.
Last campaign, Martial struggled to maintain regular fitness for Manchester United, amassing 29 appearances across all competitions and notching nine goals and three assists in total, as per Transfermarkt.
Speculation surrounding the future of the former Sevilla loanee has emerged over the course of the transfer window. According to Caught Offside, Martial has been shortlisted by David Moyes at West Ham United, with the Scot looking to replace Gianluca Scamacca at the London Stadium between now and the close of play.
Writing in his exclusive column on Substack, transfer guru Fabrizio Romano has suggested that Manchester United could be willing to let Martial seek a new challenge, stating: "At the moment, Anthony Martial is staying at Manchester United but I’d consider him in the same range of players as Scott McTominay and Harry Maguire – if he gets an important proposal, he could leave. “Otherwise, he’ll stay and be part of Erik Ten Hag’s rotation squad. That’s the feeling around Martial now.”
Martial has just one year left on his contract at Manchester United and believed to earn a whopping £250,000 per week on the books of the Premier League giants, as per Capology.
Furthering the notion that Martial could be set to leave Manchester United, transfer insider Dean Jones told GIVEMESPORT that any departure could be complex despite the Red Devils' willingness to ship the Frenchman out of the club due to his injury record.
Jones said: “This could have been a big summer for Martial but a lack of game time again means he can not be relied on. United are definitely open to the idea of Martial leaving but it has to be a situation that suits everybody and that’s the tricky part to this. Obviously Martial’s injury record is not ideal so even future clubs have to be wary of that and it will impact in terms of any future deals he could get."
What has Mark Goldbridge said about Anthony Martial?
Goldbridge has been reacting to news that Martial has returned to training at Carrington on The United Stand YouTube channel; however, he isn't convinced that the Massy-born forward will be able to stay consistently fit in 2023/24.
The pundit stated: "I cannot invest any hope, excitement or anticipation or belief in Anthony Martial. I can't, not because I don't like the player, because it's a waste of optimism. He would have to stay fit until New Year for me to start believing in Anthony Martial.
"If he is fit and he keeps playing games, great. I'm not going to start getting excited about it because I'm just going to expect every week that he's going to break down injured again. That's where I am with Martial. It can only be a bonus, but it's not a bonus I believe in, so lets wait and see."
For now, at least, it looks like Martial will need to convince not just Goldbridge, but the entire Manchester United support, that he can be relied upon as an available attacking option this term after years of false dawns at Old Trafford.