Manchester United back to square one as La Liga side pull out of move for striker

Manchester United limped to a 1-0 victory over Aston Villa on Monday night, securing an FA Cup fourth round tie at home to Championship side Middlesbrough. 

Ralf Rangnick’s side took an early lead through Scott McTominay, and held on despite the Villans having two second-half goals ruled out, the first of which was rather controversial.

Despite progressing through to the next round, the Red Devils were once again below par in their showing at Old Trafford, and the performances of certain individuals came under particular scrutiny.

Marcus Rashford has struggled of late having failed to score in any of his previous ten matches, and once again drew a blank before being substituted in the closing minutes.

Defensively, the performance of Victor Lindelof was also questionable, with the Swede’s mistake allowing Ollie Watkins a glorious chance to level things up in the first half.

It now appears that there is more bad news for United, as they have failed to offload one of the club’s out of favour players.

Martial was eyeing the opportunity to kickstart his career in Spain

According to Marca, Spanish side Sevilla have pulled out of a potential loan move for Anthony Martial, citing United’s lack of flexibility as the reason.

The report states that Sevilla had held a genuine interest in taking the Frenchman on loan for the remainder of the season, however the Premier League side were not willing to negotiate.

Sevilla sporting director Monchi has revealed that United were demanding the La Liga side covered half of the player’s significant wages, as well as forking out a monthly loan fee to secure his services.

The Andalusian side were adamant that they could not afford the proposed deal during the January window, and have therefore not been in contact with United in more than a week, the report suggests.

Martial’s career in England started in scintillating fashion, as he scored on his debut against Liverpool before finishing his first season with 11 goals in 31 top flight appearances.

In the seasons since, however, the Frenchman’s career has dwindled, and he has scored just eight goals since the start of last season across all competitions.

That poor form has triggered United to deem the player surplus to requirements, and they are keen to offload him due to his high wages.