Manchester United ready to sell Martial but not to Chelsea — report

One of the (few) Chelsea-related transfer rumors which seemed to have been gaining traction in recent weeks had been the “Anthony Martial to Chelsea” story, which goes something like this: Jose loves Willian + Martial is unhappy at Chelsea = Chelsea swapping Willian and many millions for Martial.

Martial, who has appeared 45 times for United this season while scoring 11 goals in the process, has a year left on his contract and an option for one additional one, but it seems unlikely that will be exercised due to the player’s desire to leave.

Unfortunately, it would appear that Manchester United may not be as keen on the whole, “selling to a Premier League rival” idea as we and the rumor mill would have us believe, or so says Daily Mail.

“But Old Trafford officials would prefer that Martial, who joined the club from Monaco for a fee that could rise to £58m in 2013, heads overseas.”

-source: Daily Mail

Manchester United, unlike Chelsea who have sold Mata and Matic to United and Cech to Arsenal, aren’t extremely keen on selling their players to their rivals due to the fear of the move coming back and haunting them in the future. That’s a sound strategy and something which we should learn as well!

Chelsea, of course, aren’t the only club interested in acquiring the services of the French winger as Spurs, Napoli, and Juventus are apparently interest as well, with the latter the most likely destination.

Martial missed out on France’s World Cup squad, which should motivate him to get a transfer out of Manchester United this summer. While Chelsea can only offer the Europa League, the lack of exposure on the world stage could actually help us work a deal for the 22-year-old. It still seems unlikely of course, but it’s at least one rumor we can all get excited about.