Erik ten Hague believes Anthony Martial is happy at Manchester United despite his recent injury problems.
The Frenchman has been restricted to just 200 minutes of Premier League action this season, having been reinstated into United’s squad following a loan spell at Sevilla.
Martial impressed as a striker for the Hague in pre-season but has since been troubled by hamstring, Achilles and back injuries – making just five of a possible 16 Premier League appearances.
The 27-year-old is now fit again and led the line for United in the 1-0 friendly defeat against Real Betis. He is likely to have more chances to impress now that Cristiano Ronaldo has left the club following his blockbuster interview with Talk TV.
A succession of injuries is often difficult for a player to overcome mentally, but ten Hague is optimistic Martial is happy with where he is and admits he hopes to keep him fit from now on.
“I think he is, but he was so disappointed that his injury was unfortunate,” Ten Hague said of Martial’s current happiness.
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“He might have done something wrong in the past, I don’t know, but now it was unfortunate and you come into a process with injuries and now we have to stop the process and we get him and he himself. Gets in. A better position so he’s fit and available. It’s going to be great for his game and growth and development.
Ten Hague has spoken about United’s plans to replace the departed Ronaldo with a new striker – 90 Minutes understands that Joao Felix, Goncalo Ramos and Cody Gakpo are among the players the Red Devils fancy – But he reiterated how impressed he was with Martial when the Frenchman recovered from injury.
“The first challenge for him is to be available and fit which he has to be responsible for. But we have to support him in every way,” he said. “We have seen that when he is available he has a big impact on our game. He has 350 minutes, four goals and two assists. It’s a really good record.”
United return to Premier League action against Nottingham Forest six days later before returning to action with a Carabao Cup fourth-round clash with Burnley on December 21.