Anthony Martial debut new skinhead look in Manchester United training

Uttiyo Sarkar

What is Former Man United Winger Anthony Martial Doing Now?

AEK Athens, Anthony Martial, Manchester United

Anthony Martial had a pretty forgettable departure from Manchester United after a nine-year-long stint with the Red Devils. His contract ran out at the end of June, 2024 and the Premier League giants refused to give him an extension due to his injury-prone nature and unreliability.

Martial was not given any grand farewell and his last game for the club was on 9 December, 2023 – a 3-0 thrashing to Bournemouth. Since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, the 29-year-old missed over 55 games for Manchester United due to injury. As a result, Erik ten Hag did not even think about selecting him for the second half of the 2023/24 season and issued his release to become a free agent at the end of the campaign.

The Frenchman had trouble finding a new club to take up his services. His injury history meant any ‘major’ European club wouldn’t want anything to do with him. Martial waited util the very end of the 2024 summer window for a ‘big’ offer, but nothing came his way as the window ended.

In the end, his agent Philippe Lamboley, managed to agree a deal with Greek top division side AEK Athens to sign him on 18 September, 2024. Martial had to, of course, compromise on his financial demands. He received a £13 million-a-year salary at Manchester United (£250,000-a-week), but is reportedly getting around £2.5 million-a-year (just over £52,000) at AEK Athens. However, this is still regarded as the most lucrative contract in the club’s history.

The Greek club clearly put a lot of faith in Martial by taking a risk in signing an injury-prone player like him to a three-year contract. The 29-year-old showcased his gratitude to AEK Athens for signing him, stating after his signing: “I’m very happy. AEK was a chance for me and I want to give the best of myself to win trophies and bring joy to the fans.”

To his credit, the Frenchman has done an admirable job in repaying their faith in him. Since joining the club, Martial took a few weeks to regain his match sharpness and get adapted to their style. He made his debut for AEK Athens as a substitute in their 1-1 draw against PAOK Salonika in the Super League 1.

Since then, the 29-year-old has not missed a single game for the Greece heavyweights due to injury or suspension. He’s featured in their last 17 straight games (across all competitions) and started on 14 occasions.

That includes 10 matches in which he’s completed a full 90 minutes. This is particularly important considering that Martial did not complete 90 minutes for Manchester United for three years before leaving them, last doing it on January 27, 2021. The Frenchman is playing with a swagger at AEK Athens and showing that he’s still got the irresistible qualities in his game.

Martial has scored seven goals and provided two assists in 17 matches for AEK Athens so far in the 2024/25 season. He only scored two goals and provided one assist in 19 games for Manchester United last season. In the 2022/23 season, the Frenchman had nine goals and three assists in 29 appearances – a tally he looks set to surpass this time out.

A key reason for Martial’s success could be attributed to the fact that he’s playing in the left-wing role. This was the position that he grew up becoming accustomed to and arguably produced his best performances in at AS Monaco and Manchester United.

In fact, across his career, Martial has had 62 goal contributions (38 goals, 24 assists) in the 140 matches he’s played as a left-winger. He’s had a 0.44 goal contribution per game ratio, the exact same he’s managed as a striker (97 goal contributions in 220 matches as no.9).

However, considering his consistency despite playing a significant number of fewer games as a left-winger, it’s safe to presume he’s at his very best in that role. Martial is the kind of player who loves to dribble around with the ball, cut in from wide areas and then score ‘beautiful’ goals. He’s not that poacher at no.9 or especially good from converting headers. Only three Manchester United players (Bruno Fernandes, Amad Diallo, Alejandro Garnacho) have outscored Martial in all competitions this season.

With the Frenchman regaining his goal-scorer swagger by scoring a huge winner in the recent 1-0 win over Panetolikos, it’s safe to assume he’s going to score a lot more and aim to make his former team look foolish for letting him go so easily.