Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho believes Anthony Martial‘s current situation is similar to that of Henrikh Mkhitaryan, urging the Frenchman to learn a thing or two from the latter.
Martial was a regular at the start of the season, but has become frozen out by Mourinho in recent weeks, with the 21-year-old left on the substitutes bench in recent games.
The France international has failed to replicate last season’s form in the current campaign, which has prompted Mourinho to bring Mkhitaryan back into the fold in recent weeks.
The Armenia captain himself was in a similar situation to that of Martial at the start of the campaign, but the summer signing has almost in a way taken the latter’s position in the starting eleven.
“Every player is different,” Mourinho told SFR Sport. “I had this season a situation that was more difficult than Anthony — Mkhitaryan.
“Mkhitaryan was completely open and understood the difference between me and other coaches he had. He worked a lot without playing, but he worked a lot to try to reach the level.
“People forget that Anthony is very, very young and last season Manchester United played completely different than we do today.
“He was basically playing up front. The team had lots of passive ball possession, waiting just for a moment to put it into space for Anthony to go and score a goal.
“This season is more difficult. I think he needs a little bit of time to improve.”
Mkhitaryan has excelled since returning to the first-team, scoring his second league goal for the club on Boxing Day against Sunderland.
The ex-Borussia Dortmund star produced a stunning scorpion kick at Old Trafford, but for Martial there has not been too much to smile about and the forward has actually been linked with a January loan move away.
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