Manchester United manager Eric ten Hag believes in Anthony Martial despite the thigh injury which has become the latest in a number of setbacks for the striker this season.
The French player has missed more than half of the club’s matches this season and will be absent again when his team hosts Leeds in the English Premier League on Wednesday night.
He came back from another spell to score in the second leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final against Nottingham Forest last week, but now he has discovered a new problem – this time with his rubbing – that ruled him out of Saturday’s win over Crystal Palace. .
And Tin Hag sympathizes as the 27-year-old faces another battle to get fit.
“He is not always available, but I also see the other side when he is available,” Ten Hag said at his press conference on Tuesday.
“He’s never been at 100 per cent this season, but he’s made a huge impact every time he’s available, even when he’s at 80, 85 or 90 per cent. So we do everything and Anthony Martial does everything.
“I think he’s the player who’s spent the most hours at Carrington this season, to come back to recover, to come back. It’s really a pity he’s disappointed.
“He’s not always available and we want him to always be available because that will improve our game and because routine can’t become routine when you’re not always available.”
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January signing Wout Weghorst has been used in offense in Martial’s absence in recent weeks.
The Dutchman has only scored once since arriving at Old Trafford on loan from Burnley, but Ten Hag is happy with his impact in other areas noting Marcus Rashford’s slow starting formation.
“Especially for strikers, most of the time, it takes time,” he added. “At the beginning of the season for Rashi, we discuss it a lot and every time I say he’s coming, we have to work on the routine, the team has to behave better but I see his potential, the same as I see with Wout.
“He’ll score, but in the meantime do the other things, do it well. It’s not about individual scoring it’s about scoring from the team and the team has to win. He’s doing very well at the moment in many aspects of football.”
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(Photo: Getty Images)
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