“I think people don’t really know me,” Anthony Martial says. “Sometimes you see me and I’m not smiling, but in life you can ask anyone: I’m always smiling. I’m just on the pitch, focused, trying to do my best so I’m not smiling, but that doesn’t reflect how I feel.” And yet, he admits, by November it did – not least because he wasn’t on the pitch much any more, playing only 11% of available minutes this season. The joy had gone and it was time to get out of Manchester United. Seville held the hope of happiness.
Ralf Rangnick claimed that Martial had asked not to play against Aston Villa in January. The striker denied that, but admits he had told United’s manager he wanted to leave almost two months earlier. He returned three days after Villa, providing an assist for Marcus Rashford’s late winner against West Ham, but it would be his last game. United had resisted a sale but three days later, a six-month loan to Spain was finalised. Now, 51 days on, he returns to England to face David Moyes’s side again, this time in Sevilla’s colours.
Martial had long needed this. The day Rangnick was made manager at Old Trafford, his mind had already been made. “When he arrived, my objective was to leave,” he says. “I told him I wanted to leave and that’s it. He talked to me. He said that if you want to stay, with the way you are training if you continue to train like that, you will play. But my objective was that I wanted to leave, to have a new atmosphere, a new club.”
The Sevilla sporting director, Monchi, says: “Negotiations were very hard. It was virtually two months of conversations, and so we were satisfied with how the market concluded.” It helped that Martial was clear about his destination.
“I had a lot of options but I talked to the manager [Julen Lopetegui] and with Monchi and I said Sevilla was the best option to play and enjoy football again because I lost it a little bit in Manchester,” Martial says. “I wasn’t playing and I knew that if I went to Sevilla, I would have the occasion to play and enjoy myself. I feel very good at Sevilla. The city’s very good and we are a good team, so for me it’s perfect. I’m playing so I am happy.”
“The World Cup for me is an objective. I want to be part of this group, and that’s also why I am here today: because I want to play and show that I can be in the squad. I need to play, to show my quality and score goals. I knew Jules Koundé from the national team but I didn’t really know him so now I do and there are some players who speak French and English, which is better for me because my Spanish is not great. I’m trying to learn but it is not easy because the time is very short.”
Immediately included in the starting XI, Martial provided an assist against Elche on his second appearance, although injury ruled him out of the Seville derby and the trip to Alavés. In the Europa League he scored in his first game against Dinamo Zagreb but missed the return. As he regained fitness, he played 15 minutes against West Ham last week and 36 minutes at Rayo at the weekend. In total, he has played six times, scoring one and assisting one.
“In Spain, all the teams try to play: they’re very technical, they try to have the possession. In England it’s a little bit different: it’s faster, it’s more physical,” he says. “It is good to play in both. I just try to adapt and enjoy myself. They want me to play like I play. Sevilla put a lot of intensity into the pressing without the ball. That’s what Lopetegui asks me to do. He’s a good manager, you can see it on the touchline; he really lives the game and that gives you energy.
“It’s a good thing to have different coaches because you have to adapt and work more. When it’s a new coach, you have to show more because he doesn’t know you so it was a good thing for me. I don’t care what people say about me really,” he continues, laughing. “I was just going here to win and to help them.”
Sevilla have not lost in La Liga since defeat at Madrid in November, the day before Rangnick took over at United. Martial’s signing and the refusal to sell Diego Carlos reflected an awareness that an opportunity had opened before them. But, hit by injuries, they have drawn six of their past eight league games – four of six since Martial’s arrival. That has seen Sevilla’s title challenge falter and on Monday night Real Madrid pulled 10 points clear.
“But the objective from the club is not to win the league,” Martial maintains. “We’re in a very good position but the objective is not La Liga: we’re very happy to be in a good position, in second place. The target? To qualify for the Champions League.”
And then there’s the Europa League, in which Sevilla travel to London with a 1-0 lead over West Ham from the first leg. This is a competition they have made their own and through which they have built an identity, cementing their place among the continent’s biggest clubs. As they say there, “no one loves it like we do”.
Sevilla have won six of the past 16 Uefa Cups/Europa Leagues, and this year’s final will be held at their Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán stadium. “It’s very important for them and so it is important for us to do what we can to win this cup, and the final is here,” Martial says.
It would be some way to bow out again, six months after walking in, happy again. Because while the Manchester United striker hints at the hope of a more permanent solution he admits his stay at Sevilla is not likely to last much longer. “I asked United to leave because I wanted to play but I still have a contract. They know what I want, so we will see at the end of the season,” he says. “I’m here just for the end of the season and that’s it.”