Anthony Martial and Luke Shaw must rebuild their careers away from Manchester United
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JOSE MOURINHO'S short-term attention will be fixed on the FA Cup final against Chelsea at Wembley this weekend.
But plans for next season are well underway, and two of Louis van Gaal’s young signings may have already played their last game for Manchester United.
If class is permanent, how do we categorise attitude and application, just two of the concerns some United supporters have had with Luke Shaw and Anthony Martial almost since they arrived.
There was an interesting debate on one national football radio station last week and two questions were raised in relation to the pair.
Firstly, how long do you wait for potential to develop? And secondly, how is potential meant to develop, if it’s not given the opportunity to play consistently?
Mourinho will feel, particularly in the case of French frontman Martial, that he’s given him every opportunity to fulfil his early promise.
And even if the same might not be said of ex-England left-back Shaw, you have to question whether the player has ever really committed 100 per cent to Mourinho’s methods and tactical approach.
Martial often appears to be in a world of his own, consumed by other matters, and that’s before he makes it onto the pitch, while Shaw’s physical condition has regularly been called into question.
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The frustration is that both possess world class qualities but have only treated supporters to fleeting glimpses.
Martial found it difficult to get into Mourinho’s starting XI before Alexis Sanchez’s arrival in January but with the Chilean, Juan Mata, Jesse Lingard and Marcus Rashford all fighting for two of the positions behind Romelu Lukaku, it’s the Monaco man who is most likely to be sacrificed.
It looked like Martial’s best chance of playing was to try to edge ahead of Rashford.
But only last week Mourinho said that the English youngster doesn’t need to leave in order to play more regularly, and that he expects him to report back for pre-season after the World Cup.
From a business and brand perspective, Martial’s sale would probably tick both boxes too. His resale value is unlikely to have decreased dramatically and the board would probably prefer to sell him rather than ‘homegrown’ Rashford.
For Shaw it's slightly different and if he wasn’t discouraged by Mourinho’s prediction that he expects Ashley Young to play around 50 times next season, then the renewed talk of Alex Sandro joining from Juventus, should.
Juve are reportedly prepared to let their left back leave this summer for cash, or a cash plus Matteo Darmian deal, which should all but rubber stamp Shaw’s departure, with Tottenham Hotspur and Everton just two of the interested parties.
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The first job is to win the final on Saturday, the second is to act decisively in the transfer market and get as much business as possible done before the tournament in Russia.
I would have preferred both Shaw and Martial to stay and flourish - and under Sir Alex Ferguson they may well have done so.
But sometimes things don’t work out as you’d like.
And regrettably this summer is the right moment for Martial and Shaw to start rebuilding their careers away from the Theatre of Dreams.
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