Rio Ferdinand says Anthony Martial ‘NEEDED’ his loan move to Sevilla as his Manchester United exit is confirmed – with club legend admitting he has been ‘underwhelmed’ by the player after thinking he could be ‘ultra-special’
- Anthony Martial has joined Sevilla on loan for the rest of the current season
- The Frenchman has struggled to get regular playing time at Manchester United
- Rio Ferdinand has described the move as a positive one for both parties
- He believes that a fresh start is something Martial needs to reignite his career
Rio Ferdinand has delivered his verdict on Anthony Martial’s loan move from Manchester United to Sevilla.
It was confirmed on Tuesday night that the Frenchman had joined the LaLiga side until the end of the season.
Sevilla have agreed to pay Martial’s wages while there is no obligation to buy him at the end of the deal.
Anthony Martial has joined Sevilla on loan from Manchester United for the rest of the season
Speaking on the latest episode of his Vibe with Five podcast, Ferdinand said it was a deal suited both the player and Manchester United.
He added: ‘I think Anthony Martial needs this. He needs to play first-team football, he needs to be a regular, he needs to start playing on a regular basis now on a consistent level.
‘For the last year or so, even longer maybe, he hasn’t been a regular and he’s needed this move.
‘I’m interested to see who else goes you’ve probably got Donny van de Beek probably gonna go somewhere – interested to see where he goes.
Rio Ferdinand urged that Martial needed to leave to play regular first-team football
‘The same with Jesse Lingard – my head would say to me Newcastle but these are players that need to go out and play football and Martial is one of them.’
There were high hopes for Martial when he exploded onto the scene by scoring against Liverpool on his debut.
However, after playing 269 games for the Red Devils, in which he has scored 79 goals, Martial has struggled recently to get regular game-time at the club.
Ferdinand said: ‘He showed glimpses throughout his career at Man United where you think; ‘Wow, this kid could be ultra-special’.
“But then there’s been times where he’s been under-whelming and you thought; ‘This isn’t good enough’.
“Hopefully he improves [on loan] and it frees up a bit of space for Man United to go and get someone else.’
Martial has struggled to live up to early promise at Old Trafford and has seen his playing time drop
Ferdinand said that Donny van de Beek and Jesse Lingard also need first-team football
The former United defender also pointed out Martial’s inconsistency in terms of his performances.
Ferdinand said that winning teams ‘can’t have’ inconsistent players in their team.
He said: ‘I just feel with Martial he didn’t move enough off the ball, he didn’t make runs in behind, but he’s quick.
‘Sometimes you’ve got to vary the way you attack opponents and you can’t always want the ball to feet. He probably didn’t hurt defenders in behind as much as he could have.
‘When you look at a (Sadio) Mane, (Marcus) Rashford sometimes, (Raheem) Sterling, they don’t all just come to feet as for a defender it then gets easy to read. You have to vary the point of attack. I don’t think that he did that enough.
‘You see things levelled at him that he didn’t smile and was moody but you just look at more the way he played his football – his inconsistencies.
‘When you’re going to be a winning team you can’t have people who are inconsistent in the team.’
