Anthony Martial is ready to say goodbye to Manchester United for the remainder of the season.
The Frenchman will join Sevilla on loan until June and will later make a decision on his long-term future. Whether that will be at United or elsewhere is yet unknown.
The Red Devils signed Martial back in 2015, parting with a huge £36million upfront and additional variable bonuses worth £21.6m.
Then United boss Louis van Gaal was delighted to snap up the young Frenchman, who at the time was being dubbed the next Thierry Henry.
"Anthony is a naturally talented, young, multi-functional forward with great potential. I believe this is the club for him to continue his development," said Van Gaal of Martial.
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Martial's start to life at United is what dreams are made of, with the youngster netting in a win over bitter rivals Liverpool.
His impact prompted Sir Alex Ferguson to claim: "The boy Anthony Martial, he can be anything".
But things didn't progress in the way Martial nor United would have liked, especially following Van Gaal's dismissal.
The Dutchman was sacked two weeks after Man United won the FA Cup and was replaced by the hard-to-please Jose Mourinho.
Martial found opportunities harder to come by under Mourinho, and the former Chelsea manager had no obligation to get the best out of the Frenchman, having not been the man to sign him.
Not long after his arrival, Mourinho publicly criticised Martial, prompting a response from the Frenchman.
Martial told RMC Sport: "It's true that I'd have preferred it if [Mourinho] told me directly, there's no need to say it in front of everybody. After that, you definitely want to prove him wrong.
"He didn't start me during the first few games and each time I came on, I scored. In the end, he told me: 'You see, now you understand what I wanted'.
"It can get to you. You just want to show him you deserve to be on the pitch."
Things didn't improve though, for Martial.
And to make matters worse he was stripped of his number nine shirt.
"I think they let him really down when they swapped the shirt with Zlatan [Ibrahimovic]," said Patrice Evra, discussing the controversial decision.
"I remember we were in the national team and he received a call from the club and they say you have to give your No. 9 shirt, and he was like, 'no, absolutely not'.
"But after, Mourinho contacted him to say Zlatan is going to take the No. 9 and you're going to take the No. 11.
"It's not like I'm going to say Martial's been not playing well because of that number shirt, but it started from there."
In June 2018, Martial's agent Philippe Lamboley confirmed in an interview with RMC Sport that his client has finally made up his mind, and demanded that he be allowed to leave.
"After thinking about all the possibilities and settings, Anthony wants to leave Manchester United," said Lamboley.
"Anthony is sad about his situation at Manchester. He loves the club and the fans, he showed it for three years. Without the great support from the fans, he would have already asked to leave the club.
"Everyone will have his opinion, I think he must take back control of his career. The time has come."
Man United co-owner Joel Glazer was very much against the idea of selling Martial and still considered the Frenchman to be an important player for the future.
He rejected Mourinho's request to sell the Frenchman and sign Ivan Perisic with the funds from the transfer and in the end, it was the manager who would leave United.
Mourinho was replaced by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer who was given the job first on a temporary basis before he took over full time.
Martial showed immediate signs of improvement under the Norwegian.
He also received a private text message from Solskjaer, who handed him back his number nine shirt and boosted his confidence to no end.
Martial told Canal+: "He [Solskjaer] sent me a message, he said 'Do you want to take your No. 9 shirt back?' I straight up said 'Yes!' and he told me now it's up to you to show me [that you deserve it] every time you're on the pitch."
Martial's good form continued for some time, but it wasn't long before problems remerged once more with United legend Paul Scholes claiming the Frenchman was "conning" the Red Devils with his performances.
"These forwards are exceptionally talented lads. We all know that," Scholes told Stadium Astro in 2021. "The problem with United's forwards is that none of them is an actual centre-forward.
"Martial almost conned us into thinking he was one at the end of last season because he scored so many goals and was quite good.
"He's started this season quite poorly again, which makes you think he isn't. It's misleading. That's why I've kept saying we need a top-class No. 9."
Solskjaer responded to the advice by signing Edinson Cavani, who immediately made the number nine position his own, shifting Martial out wide.
There, the Frenchman continued to play, but he was in competition with the likes of Marcus Rashford and Mason Greenwood for game time.
This summer Solskjaer broke the bank to land Jadon Sancho and Cristiano Ronaldo, yet more competition for the Frenchman.
And following Solskjaer's sacking and interim manager Ralf Rangnick's arrival, Martial was back at square one.
Martial is now close to completing a loan move to Sevilla after informing Rangnick he wants to leave and challenge himself in Spain.
Sevilla, who will not pay a loan fee for the Frenchman, are understood to have agreed to pay Martial's wages of £200,000-a-week in full.
Martial is currently in Spain and is expected to put pen to paper on the loan deal this Tuesday, which will keep him at Sevilla until the end of the season.
