So just the one club then that you think he will get into (Bayern). Kind of proves my point doesn't it? The pool of clubs he could go to a) actually get in ahead of who is currently playing in his position b) and can afford him is very, very small. (I accept your point on Ribery & Robben and you could add to that Muller, but I'd strongly argue that he's nowhere near the level of Levendouski, Wagner, Coman and Rodriguez. The other thing is what is his position? CF or wide? I hold doubts over any player that has failed to establish a position for themselves (I'm all for players being adaptable e.g. Son has proved he can cover Kane as CF, Lamela too loosely) but just like Wallcott and Oxlaide-Chamberlin when they play wide or central they disappoint regardless.
I'm not comparing Zaha to Martial. I'm saying to me both are not top draw players that's all. Zaha improved massively last year, to a point where I was impressed by him in a number of games. He's clearly a confidence player and he played with a smile on his face last year and his football improved as a result. Martial, might be another confidence player, he looks very unhappy, his body language reflects how he plays. I watch all of Utd's games and if I haven't fallen asleep I fail to see anything exciting from him. This could be a reflection of his team/manager's style but you'd hope to see at least a flicker of something that backs up his hype. Under AVB we played like Utd do, incredibly boring football, Bale still managed to show his talent in the side. (AVB plays his football identically to Mourinho which is why I brought up the analogy, I'm not directly comparing the players but they system they play in and therefore expect to see at least a sparkle of a baller within that system).
Our CF back-up should be looked at totally separately IMO. This is because I've no idea what and who we want. Specifically what style of football does this player bring to us. Llorente's acquisition made perfect sense for a plan b old school CF, enabling us to go direct, putting balls into the box for him to compete for and hopefully score from or for him to be a target and for another player to run off him. But we NEVER played this way when he came on, I don't get why we didn't play to his strengths and instead to what are obviously his weakness's. Because we didn't play direct when he was selected we/he looked shit. So if we wanted to keep our fluid style and possession based football we then put Son in as CF, it worked because of the ability of Son with the ball at his feet.
Clubs that need/want him- No, my point was to use them as an example. I just don't follow all the teams in the world. So being honest to myself, I could not say who might need him. From very general viewpoint it might look like teams would not need him, while being more into some clubs actions, you might realize smth different. So I believe there would (and actually are) teams out there (in addition to Bayern) who could want him.
I think you just proved the point because -
a) Wagner is... very medicore player. I mean he was just brought in to have someone else there on top of Lewa
no one (except himself) regards him as top player, and Martial is lightyears ahead of him
(seen enough of both in action to say that)
b) James Rodriquez is not even closely competitor for Martial - he plays way deeper than Martial does. One is basically a metronome / orchestrator of the attacking play and other is the one finalizing moves / giving assists.
Martial position - well, he has a position. Maybe you just don't want to see it
? He played as a ST in Monaco. And did it really well (earning him huge move from where we were outpriced reportedly). In ManU for the first season he played mainly on the LW position and occasionally in ST. In both of the position he was quite good. Arguably better on the wing (return of 11 goals + 8 assists from 27 games in this position seems to prove it). Well... and then Mourinho happened.
Without a doubt I agree that he is not on top of his game right now. Nor was he at that in last season. He is low in confidence and has not established place in the squad first and foremost (only after that we can talk about his main position on the field). And
despite that (!) and his limited playing time (1600 minutes in EPL) his end product was equal to Zaha, who wast the "star of the show" in his team. That is partly why I'd like us to sign Martial - if he delivered that while not being "on top of his game", imagine what he could do playing under Poch and from the shoulder of Kane (who is, let's face it - far superior partner than Lukaku)
CF situation - I partly agree with you. But I see question being "why did we even sign Llorente" rather then why we never played on his strenghts. I've read Poch book. I've watched his interviews and how the teams play under him - he has his philosophy, and I just feel he will never resort to lot of crosses and long ball upfield. Ofc I might be wrong but this is my impression. So we'd need a versatile forward player which Martial is in my books (this is arguable). He is technical, but not lighting fast. He has really good shot on him whenever having room. He has a great footballing brain. Though he does not have quite equal physical power to Kane. So there are some differences but I could see him fitting into our plan better than options tried until now (Jannsen, Llorente) and also diffrerent from using Son/Lamela/Alli on top.
