Anthony Martial reunited with former enemy who Solskjaer wanted to ‘live on bread and water for two weeks’

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Anthony Martial probably did not expect to have to wait until late September to find a new club after leaving Manchester United.

Yet as a player with an earned reputation as injury-prone, who has been on very high wages, there was not a large market for the former Manchester United striker.

Anthony Martial has eventually clinched a move to Greek side AEK Athens, where he will be playing in the same city as former United teammate Facundo Pellistri, now with Panathinaikos.

It is a chance for Anthony Martial to reset his career, he has not played a single match in 2024 at any level after undergoing groin surgery at the start of the year.

His final appearance for Manchester United came in a miserable 3-0 defeat at home to Bournemouth last December.

• READ MORE: Manchester United confirmed signings, transfers in, out, loan exits, releases for 2024/25

Anthony Martial reunited with Erik Lamela

AEK Athens rank top of the Greek Super League after four games, with three wins and a draw.

One of the familiar names in the AEK Athens squad is Martial’s former Premier League rival Erik Lamela.

During a match between Manchester United and Tottenham in 2020, Martial received a red card after an altercation with the opposing winger.

Lamela appeared to elbow Martial in the throat, before the Manchester United lightly raised his hand towards the Argentine’s face.

The Spurs winger threw himself to the floor as if he had been struck violently, and Martial was shown a straight red card, and earning a three-game suspension.

It was the final act in a four match stint which saw the Frenchman lose his place, with Edinson Cavani’s arrival confirmed the next day.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer slammed Lamela’s reaction as ‘an absolute joke’, adding, via Goal: “If that was my son he would live on water and bread for two weeks. That’s not how I want my players to react.”

Awkward reunion has already happened once

If there is one consolation for Anthony Martial, it is that his awkward reunion with Erik Lamela has already happened, in 2022.

At the start of that year, Ralf Rangnick sent Martial on loan to Spanish club Sevilla, who Lamela had joined in 2021.

The former Spurs winger made the move to AEK Athens as a free agent in 2021, and the former Premier League duo will play key roles together in an unlikely partnership.