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He made his debut before his eighteenth birthday, was paid 5 million euros and is probably the only player who was looking forward to Falcao's departure form Monaco squad.
Departure of El Tigre to Manchester United has left space for Anthony Martial to prove that the price of 5 million euros is the biggest bargain on the football market last year.
The attacker arrived at the Louis II stadium in 2013, in the shadow of enormous Monaco purchases. Last year he mainly had the opportunity to show his talent from the bench, coming in the game in second half, but he did manage to score twice in League 1. This season he'll have to take on the burden of responsibility on his young shoulders and show whether he deserves to be called the successor of Thierry Henry.
It's not uncommon to compare talented and pacey attackers in France with Arsenal legend, but Martial has lots of things in common with footballer who's now playing for Now York's Red Bull. Anthony was born in the same Parisian suburb as Henry, he's got roots from Guadalupe, and he was introduced at a very young age at Monaco. Juventus obviously wanted to correct their terrible mistake from the past and bring the attacker on a loan, with the option to buy his contract. Of course, Arsene Wenger was reportedly interested on bringing him to his Arsenal side.
In 2012 he made his debut for Lyon at the age of seventeen, first in Europa League, followed by French championship where he registered four appearances. But Lyon had fallen into financial difficulties due to the construction of their new stadium, so they were forced to sell players. Monaco took advantage of troubled Lyon and 'kidnapped' their uncut diamond for a bargain price of 5 million euros, plus bonuses.
Anthony plays best as a striker, but is also familiar with playing on the wings, and also in attacking midfield position, right behind the attackers. His main strengths are his explosiveness and incredible speed. His preferred move is to run past opposition defenders when attacking.
Like Thierry Henry, Martial also has excellent ball control and can easily get rid of his markers and make a shooting chance in front of the goal. Powerful shoot is also one of his strengths.
His only weakness is his physical preparedness, because he has no strength or condition to withstand all 90 minutes of a football match. No doubt he'll work on this in the future.
Will Anthony Martial live up to his expectations? Will he be near as good as Thierry Henry? Will he be in the top wonderkid strikers in Football Manager 2015? These are just some of the questions that come to mid when speaking about this amazing young striker from France.
