Thierry Henry says Anthony Martial could be a legend – but questions if Man Utd dressing room is right place for him
The legendary Frenchman told ex-Arsenal team-mate Lee Dixon that he suffered the same struggles at the beginning of his Gunner’s career as Martial has at Old Trafford.
Thierry Henry (right) has questioned whether the Man Utd dressing room is right for Anthony Martial
Martial came to United from Monaco five years ago in a deal worth £36million, making him the most expensive teenager in the world at the time.
He made waves on his debut with a goal against arch rivals Liverpool but has often failed to find consistency.
Dixon has revealed he spoke with Henry about the struggles that Martial has faced on English shores with the 42-year-old drawing comparisons to the difficulties he faced at the start of his own career in North London.
Henry believes that Martial may have struggled to find his feet because the United dressing room he came into lacked the experienced characters who would be able to guide the forward – as the likes of David Seaman, Tony Adams and Nigel Winterburn did with him.
On the Arsenal podcast Handbrake Off, Dixon said: “I presumed Henry knew Martial because they’re from the same area in France so I asked him about Martial.
“I said, ‘What he’s like?’ and he looked at me with that look that he does as if to say: ‘Have I not already spoken to you about this?’
“And he said, ‘He’s exactly like I was when I came to Arsenal, he needs to go through the process like I did with you lot and I don’t know if the Manchester United dressing room is like that.’
“He said that was the making of him.
“To liken himself to Martial or another player to him, it really painted a picture of what Martial was like and what his character was like because he’s super-talented like Thierry was and I think his development would have been similar.
“I’m not saying he would have been as good as Thierry – but would have been similar if he had been in the old United dressing room with the characters like we had in our dressing room.
“He certainly talks about that as a real learning lesson in his curve to get how brilliant he was.”
Martial has led the United frontline for much of the season, netting 16 goals and providing five assists in all competitions.
That had helped the Red Devils to fifth in the Premier League before the coronavirus crisis put all football on standby.
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
