The last time Anthony Martial replaced Radamel Falcao, things worked out pretty well. In November 2013, the Colombian was forced by injury to miss Monaco’s game with Rennes. Claudio Ranieri, then the club’s coach, saw it as the perfect opportunity to blood the talented young striker who was on the fringes of his squad. Martial made his first start a few days before his 18th birthday. He scored with his first shot on target.
There is a dash of irony, of course, in Martial — some 18 months on — finding himself, in a sense, replacing Falcao once again, although the circumstances are very different. The pressure, in one sense, should be lower: the Colombian, after all, is not exactly a difficult act to follow at Manchester United. In another, though, it is considerably greater: Martial, in the space of less than two years, has gone from raw new recruit to the most expensive teenager in football’s history.
Whether his abilities warrant that status, at this stage, is open to question. The bare numbers are not, in truth, especially eye-catching: 15 goals in 72 senior appearances — a handful for Lyons, the majority for Monaco — is not bad at all for a young player, but it is not world-record fare.
More encouraging is the obvious recognition of his talent. Jean-Michel Aulas, the president of Lyons, Martial’s first club, has made it abundantly clear that he sanctioned his sale in 2013 only “under duress.” Lyons needed the £3 million that Monaco were offering them for a teenager and thought highly enough of him to negotiate a 25 per cent cut of any future fee, now worth £9 million or so.
Some have compared him to Thierry Henry, another Monaco graduate and, like Martial, born in the northern province of Île-de-France. Those who know him better, including his brother, Johan, suggest that Karim Benzema is a better parallel, although there is a touch of his childhood hero, Sonny Anderson, in his first-time finishing.
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For all that, £36 million remains a gamble. Louis van Gaal’s last risky venture in Monte Carlo did not work out all that well. He will have to hope that Martial proves worth the bet.