Anthony Martial's eye-watering Man Utd bonus clauses and the missing £14m speak volumes

Manchester United snapped up a young Anthony Martial from Monaco in 2015, parting with a huge £36million upfront, with an additional £21.6m in variable bonuses.

There were three variable bonus clauses in total that, at the time, former Monaco vice-president Vadim Vasilyev was confident would all be triggered.

"The price for Martial is £57.6million," said Vasilyev in 2015. "But take into account this sum includes bonuses, which are very realistic."

The first of the three clauses was a goal bonus worth £7.2m, which was to be triggered upon Martial scoring 25 times for United from 2015 to 2019.

This was triggered in October 2018 when Martial scored his first goal of that season in Man United's 3-2 win over Newcastle.

The second clause was an international appearance fee bonus.

Man United agreed to pay Monaco an additional £7.2m if the forward represented France 25 times while a Red Devils player, from 2015 until 2019.

Initially, Martial was well on track to do this but fell down the pecking order under Didier Deschamps and had made only 18 appearances for France by 2019.

The final clause was the real shot in the dark but shows just how highly-rated Martial was when he made his big-money move to United.

Man United agreed to pay Monaco £7.2m if Martial won the Ballon d'Or before 2019, which of course he never fulfiled.

This leaves £14.4m of bonus money unaccounted for, which is both good and bad news for Man United, depending on which way you look at it.

Martial signed a new contract with Man United in 2019, penning a lucrative deal that keeps him at Old Trafford until 2024.

But it seems the Frenchman's time with the club could be over before then.

Martial is close to completing a loan move to Sevilla after informing