Who is Anthony Martial?

Amidst a busy final day or so in the transfer window, Manchester United have been linked with paying in excess of £40 million pounds for the young French forward Anthony Martial and whilst the exit doors are still being used at Old Trafford, by the likes of Anders Lindegaard, Javier Hernandez and Adnan Januzaj who have departed the Red devils, we took the liberty of preparing a profile, on our heavily linked transfer target.

Big Money for an unproven teenager, how will fans react?

As a boy, Anthony Martial spent his early footballing years with CO les ullis. He caught that attention of Olympique Lyonnais scouts at the tender age of 14 in 2009 and ultimately joined their youth academy in the same year. Playing for the Under 17 side, perhaps his most impressive feat came in his second season with the youth team, when he scored 32 goals in 21 games, subsequently leading to a France national under-17 team call up.

His professional debut came for Lyon on December 6th, 2012 which was an appearance from the bench, replacing Yassine Benzia in a Europa League game against Hapoel Ironi Kiryat Shmona. The Frenchman's playing time at Olympique Lyonnais was rather short, the attacker only made 3 more appearances in the whole 2012-13 season, all of them being from the substitutes bench.

In late June 2013, Martial signed for AS Monaco for a reported 5 million euros. At the age of 17 he made his Monaco debut, coming on as a sub for Radamel Falcao against FC Nantes. On his first start, came his first goal for the French club as he scored in a 2-0 win over Rennes. In the December of that year however he unfortunately injured his ankle, which hindered his campaign over the months to follow.

Promising Prospect: Martial impressed last season against Arsenal in the Champions league

In his second season, the young forward bagged 9 goals in 36 Ligue 1 games, most notably a dramatic late equaliser against French Champions Paris Saint Germain. However surely this sort of goal return for a club like Monaco, in arguably a lesser league, surely isn't enough to justify a potential transfer fee of a staggering £40 plus million pounds. Certainly United fans wont be pleased with the amount of money spent on such an unproven and raw talent like Anthony Martial unless he turns into the next Cristiano Ronaldo. The Red Devils have a track record for putting faith in younger players, the Real Madrid number 7 is a perfect example. Ronaldo was bought for back then big money in £12 million pounds and turned into the best player in the world in years to come, but is £40 million plus, a step too far?

Martial's stats don't really scream 'Prolific striker', up until now he has 15 goals in 68 AS Monaco appearances, which won't sit well with the Old Trafford faithful. Losing players like Javier Hernandez and Adnan Januzaj for a season to Dortmund, the pressure will be even bigger on the result of this transfer and what kind of player young Martial will turn into, the next Henry perhaps? Who knows.

Need for Speed: Martial's biggest asset is thought to be his pace, in action here against Thiago Silva.

In terms of his pace, he is thought to be lightning quick. This particular trait was mentioned in UEFA's report on their report on the 2013 European U21 championships, with Martial being named in the team of the tournament. Furthermore Martial has been described as having "smart movement, excellent close control and overall technical ability" by the former CEO of AS Monaco Tor-Kristian Karlsen. Additionally he is thought to be quite composed on the ball and excellent in one on one situations.

All in all, spending so much money on such a young player, piles on the pressure, not only on Martial himself but also Louis Van Gaal, who is very close to the quarter of a billion mark in terms of money spent on transfers since his time at United, will Anthony Martial set the world alight and lead the red devils to glory? United fans across the globe will be very much hoping this, but we'll just have to wait and see.