Robin van Persie has gone an extra mile to double down on his recent remark that Manchester United’s Anthony Martial is world class.
The Dutchman explains that his all-round game and awareness justifies the label.
Martial is enjoying his best season at United to date, having scored 23 goals in all competitions in his preferred central striker role, and on Sunday night the Reds play their Europa League semi-final against Sevilla.
The 24-year-old has been nominated for the PFA Young Player of the Year award.
He earned a match winning penalty in the Europa League quarter-finals against FC Copenhagen, and Van Persie spoke after the game about his belief that Martial is one of the best strikers around right now.
“I labelled him world class because I believe that he’s world class,” Van Persie told 90min. “Martial only struggled under [Jose] Mourinho, and he wasn’t the only one. Under Louis van Goal he played really well, and he’s been playing well now for quite some time.
“You can see that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer gave him one of the key roles. He’s one of the main players now, together with [Marcus] Rashford, Bruno Fernandes and [Paul] Pogba. Mason Greenwood is coming up as well now, and Solskjaer gave that confidence.
“What I really like about him is his game is all-round. He can dribble, he can shoot, he can score, he can assist; but what I like most and what sets him apart from the good players is that he was more ‘weapons’.
"𝙸𝚏 𝙸 𝚕𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝚊𝚝 𝙼𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚒𝚊𝚕, 𝚑𝚎 𝚑𝚊𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚘𝚜𝚝 𝚠𝚎𝚊𝚙𝚘𝚗𝚜."@Persie_Official told @_scottsaunders that Martial is world class because unlike other players who have just some, he has 𝘼𝙇𝙇 the attributes of a top striker. 💥@enterprise | @EuropaLeague pic.twitter.com/ga0bZep3ft
— 90min (@90min_Football) August 12, 2020
“My son plays Fortnite, so I tell him, now you’re collecting weapons and you should do that on the pitch too. And if I look at Martial — he has the most weapons.
“His biggest is his awareness; his awareness of where to be, where to stand, when to pass, when to dribble, when to shoot. That’s how I look at football and that’s why I labelled him as a world class player.”
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