Anthony Martial has laid into his former Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho and accused him of showing disrespect by going against his wishes to change his shirt number.
Martial got on well with Louis van Gaal, who signed him for United from Monaco for a fee of £36million back in September 2015. But his relationship with Mourinho was much more strained after Van Gaal was unceremoniously sacked at the end of the 2015/16 season.
The Frenchman claims that it all began when Zlatan Ibrahimovic arrived at the club in July 2016. Martial had taken the No9 shirt, which had previously been worn by Radamel Falcao, upon his arrival at United, but was forced to vacate and change to No11 to make way for Ibrahimovic.
Martial showed his displeasure at the time by subtly altering his social media profiles to display the No9 shirt - and he has now explained exactlty what happened.
"It started with the story of the shirt number," Martial told France Football in an explosive interview. "During the holidays, he [Mourinho] sends me a message to ask me if I want to take 11, explaining to me that it's great, because it was worn by the legend Ryan Giggs."
"I tell him that I have the greatest respect for Giggs, but that I prefer to keep my number 9. When I return to the club, I see my jersey with the number 11. The story did not start well! He disrespected me, straight up."
Things continued to be fractious between Martial and Mourinho from there on in. Martial arrived as a 19-year-old at Old Trafford and he feels that his manager did not protect him when talking to the media.
"He was talking about me in the press," Martial said. "He likes these games, but he also knows who he is doing it with. He knows that I am 20 years old then and that if I say something, it is I who will be the young person who lacks respect.
"The second season [at United], I was the team's top scorer in the first part of the season, he brought in Alexis Sanchez and I hardly played anymore. It cost me dearly. I should have been there [the 2018 World Cup]."
Martial missed out on selection for the 2018 World Cup in Russia, only making Didier Deschamps’ 11-man standby squad. France went on to win the tournament, while Martial was forced to watch on from home.
Now 26, Martial is back in his favoured No9 shirt at Manchester United following a difficult spell which saw him loaned out to Sevilla for the second half of last season. The arrival of Erik ten Hag has offered him the chance of a revival at United, although an achilles problem has kept him sidelined recently.
He has 79 goals and 51 assists in 270 appearances for United altogether and has helped the team win the FA Cup, EFL Cup and Europa League.
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