Even before Anthony Martial’s remarkable resurgence in recent weeks, he was on the minds of Juventus, Tottenham and Bayern Munich.
With each passing game and each passing goal, his list of admirers only grows.
The Manchester United winger’s decisive strike against Everton on Sunday was a spectacular clarion call to European football’s giants.
It was a goal to make Old Trafford erupt and hasten Ed Woodward’s efforts to tie the Frenchman down to a new long-term deal.
Martial has indicated he is ready to commit his future to the club, even if he rejected their most recent contract offer. But the dynamic has changed dramatically since Woodward stepped up negotiations with his representatives in the summer.
Whereas then it was a case of assuring the 22-year-old he remained pivotal to their long-term thinking, now it is a matter of convincing him his future is best served at Old Trafford, rather than the likes of Santiago Bernabeu or even Camp Nou.
Those are the levels Martial is reaching over a period in which he has elevated himself to become arguably United’s most valuable asset – and potentially the most exciting attacking prospect in the Premier League.
Martial is a month older than Leroy Sane, the Manchester City winger who was named PFA Young Player of Year last season.
Whereas Sane has scored two goals for Pep Guardiola’s champions this term, Martial’s strike against Everton took his tally to five in all competitions – four in his last three league starts.
He has one more than Raheem Sterling, who continues to be linked with Real Madrid, and four more than United teammate Marcus Rashford.
If he continues in this kind of form, it’s wholly conceivable he could command a fee in the region of the £135.5m Barcelona paid Borussia Dortmund for Ousmane Dembele two summers ago.
As a free agent, he could spark the type of auction the likes of which have never been seen.
United have been committed to ensuring the situation isn’t allowed to reach that point – and have the buffer of a 12-month option that keeps Martial at Old Trafford until the summer of 2020. But they also remain confident a deal will be struck long before such measures are required, with a new five-year deal among the contracts they have been working on most intently in recent weeks.
A key development in United’s favour has been an easing of tensions between the forward and Jose Mourinho.
That Martial was prepared to enter into talks even when left on the fringes by the United manager was a signal of his desire to remain at Old Trafford – but the upturn in his fortunes on the pitch has been a welcome sight for the club’s hierarchy.
He, more than any other player, has provided Mourinho with the key highlights during such a turbulent start to the season.
And the Portuguese’s admission that Martial deserved his share of the credit for turning his United career around was another positive sign in terms of their relationship.
“When the players are playing bad, it is my fault,” said Mourinho. “When they are playing well, it is my responsibility. Or we go to the middle and when the player plays bad it is half me, half the player and when he plays well, it is half me and half the player.
“He took quite a long time to understand what we want. Quite a long time for his brain and body to be ready for how we want him to play.
“At the moment he is playing very well. Even if he doesn’t score, to create what he is creating, it is a solid performance for the team.”
Mourinho’s public shows of affection to a player he fined for going AWOL following the birth of his child in the summer have also been notable.
He embraced him on the touchline after Martial’s two goals against Chelsea earlier this month – and on Sunday was crouched down on the touchline applauding his player for chasing back to prevent an Everton break late on in United’s 2-1 win.
“It is not just about the defensive action,” said Mourinho. “It is also about closing the spaces, compacting with the midfield players.
“He is understanding things he did not before. He wants to play and he knows that to do that he has to go in a certain direction.
“His performance without the goal would be a good performance. You cannot score every time you play, where you don’t assist, but you have a certain balance. That is the way I think it is going now.”
All that’s left is for that new contract to be signed. Something United are increasingly confident will be done in the near future.
