Anthony Martial suffered an injury against Everton which forced him off inside the first half hour.
The Frenchman appeared to get injured during the warm-up, and pushed through, contributing with an assist, before having to come off.
The extent of Martial’s injury is yet to emerge. Erik ten Hag told the club website the forward needs to be assessed.
Latest Martial injury impact
It’s currently unclear how long Martial will be out. But let’s look at this through the perspective of the forward missing the next two weeks.
With the fixture list so congested, this would rule Martial out of games against Omonia, Newcastle, Tottenham and Chelsea.
This scenario would put extra pressure on Marcus Rashford, himself just bouncing back from an injury which ruled him out of the England squad, and Cristiano Ronaldo who is 37.
The two players may be able to cope just fine over a two week period. But if Martial’s injury saw a longer enforced absence, ruling him out until the World Cup break, then it would get really difficult.
There are 10 games remaining before the season split. Looking to rely on just Rashford and Ronaldo over this period would be pushing it.
Reminder Manchester United must sign a striker
The most important trait for football players is ‘availability’. It’s no use being a top talent if you are constantly injured and unreliable.
Sadly this is how Martial can currently be described. He has played only 105 minutes of Premier League football all season. Remarkably he has two goals and two assists, plus one in the Europa League, but United can’t hang their hopes on him if his body can’t hold up.
Martial suffered three injuries on loan at Sevilla last season, and also struggled with fitness at United beforehand, with an injury costing him a role in the Europa League final and Euro 2020.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s future is unclear, with The Telegraph last week linking him with a January exit.
Manchester United need to sign a young, reliable centre-forward. Martial’s injury is a reminder the club need to find one, as soon as possible.
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