Anthony Martial’s failed Manchester United career symbolises the club’s decline and Wayne Rooney is a gamble worth taking for Everton

If you were looking for a single figure to sum up Manchester United’s malaise in the last decade, you wouldn’t be short of options.

From a deadline day dash to sign Marouane Fellaini in 2013 to the £6m loan signing of Radamel Falcao, United have made blunder after blunder since Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement.

But while there’s been countless failures, nobody quite symbolises United’s decline quite like Anthony Martial.

The Frenchman arrived at Old Trafford in 2015 as a relative unknown. The fact United spent an initial £36million on him suggested the club thought they had found a gem, while Monaco were so sure of his potential that they demanded the inclusion of a ‘Ballon d’Or clause’ that would see United pay an extra £5m should he win the most prestigious individual award in world football during his time at the Theatre of Dreams.

Just a month after his arrival at the club, Louis van Gaal said United had decided to spend so much on Martial because he was ‘for’ his assistant Ryan Giggs, who was being lined up as the Dutchman’s successor. It looked money well spent when Martial scored a stunning goal against Liverpool on his debut and he finished his debut campaign as the club’s top scorer.

I have not bought Martial for me, I have bought him for the next manager of Manchester United.

But fast forward six years and five different managers, and there’s a strong argument that Martial’s career has barely progressed. The forward’s suffered dramatic losses of form, failed to find his strongest position, angled to leave under two managers and Ralf Rangnick is just the latest coach to decide Martial is not cut out for life at the club.

The Frenchman felt compelled to hit back at Rangnick on social media last weekend after the German