Anthony Martial leaves France squad to join Manchester United for £36m

Anthony Martial has been given permission to leave the France squad to travel to England to sign a contract with Manchester United after a deal worth around £36m was agreed with Monaco.

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The French football association released a statement on Monday morning confirming the 19-year-old striker, who had joined the national team at their base at Clairefontaine and hopes to gain his first cap over this international window, had been allowed to undergo a medical to complete his move to the Premier League. He left at midday and is due back with Didier Deschamps’ squad, preparing for Friday’s friendly in Portugal, on Tuesday morning.

Monaco are departing reluctantly with Martial, who had been the subject of interest from Tottenham Hotspur and signed a contract through to 2019 earlier in the summer. He made 48 appearances for the Champions League quarter-finalists last season, scoring 12 goals and assisting five more including Dimitar Berbatov’s goal in a 3-1 win at Arsenal in February.

Martial is a product of Lyon’s productive academy and moved to Monaco two years ago for an initial £3.5m. As part of that deal, Lyon are due a percentage, thought to be as much as 25%, of any profit Monaco make on the player.