Mourinho tells Martial to listen to him, not his agent
Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho has warned Anthony Martial to listen to him rather than his agent if he wants to be a success at Old Trafford.
The Frenchman has been a peripheral figure since Mourinho arrived at Old Trafford and has been linked in recent weeks with a temporary move away to rediscover his best form.
But the 21-year-old was in fine fettle during the dramatic 2-1 win over Middlesbrough on New Year's Eve, turning in a man of the match performance capped by United's 85th-minute equaliser.
Having scored just one Premier League goal all season prior to Saturday's match, he also hit a post with a 30-yard thunderbolt and had every reason to leave the field in good spirits.
Yet Mourinho's post-match comments suggest all is not well behind the scenes and the Portuguese clearly believes the player's representative Philippe Lamboley is a problem.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan was another player who struggled for game time in the early part of Mourinho's reign but the Armenian has flourished of late and the manager puts that down to attitude.
"Anthony has to listen to me and not listen to his agent," he said. "He has to listen to me in training every day, every feedback I give to try and improve players.
"With the Mkhitaryan process, I was having almost every day his agent calling me and saying Mkhitaryan with you will be a better player.
"With Martial every day I read the newspaper and Martial is going to Sevilla, Martial goes on loan, Martial is not happy.
"Martial has to listen to me."