On 12 September 2015, in his first match for Manchester United, Anthony Martial came off the bench against Liverpool at Old Trafford, skipped past Martin Škrtel down the left and drove a low shot in to make it 3-1. He had arrived from Monaco eleven days earlier for an initial fee of £36 million. Anthony Martial was born on 5 December 1995 in Massy, south of Paris. A forward, he played for Lyon, Monaco, Manchester United, Sevilla, AEK Athens and Monterrey.
Les Ulis and the Lyon academy
He began playing in 2001 at CO Les Ulis, his local club in Essonne, and stayed until 2009, when he joined the Olympique Lyonnais academy. At youth international level he scored nine goals for France under-16s in 2010-11 and nine more for the under-17s in 2011-12. He made his first-team debut for Lyon on 6 December 2012, in a Europa League group game against Hapoel Ironi Kiryat Shmona, and played his first Ligue 1 match on 3 February 2013, against Ajaccio.
Two seasons at Monaco
On 30 June 2013 he joined Monaco, newly promoted to Ligue 1. That summer he also finished runner-up at the 2013 UEFA European Under-19 Championship with France and was named in the team of the tournament. In the principality he moved between the bench and the starting line-up, picking up more minutes as other forwards left. The 2014-15 season brought him to European attention: Monaco knocked out Arsenal in the Champions League round of 16 before going out to Juventus in the quarter-finals. Over two years he made 70 appearances and scored 15 goals in all competitions, 11 of them in the league.
The move to Manchester United
On 1 September 2015 Manchester United completed his signing for an initial £36 million, a fee that made the nineteen-year-old the most expensive teenager in football at the time. The debut goal against Liverpool put him straight into Louis van Gaal's plans. In December 2015 he won the Golden Boy award, given by the Italian newspaper Tuttosport to Europe's best young player. He ended that season with the 2016 FA Cup, and the following campaign, under José Mourinho, added the 2016 Community Shield, the 2017 League Cup and the 2017 Europa League.
Highs and lows at Old Trafford
His most productive season was 2019-20 under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer: 23 goals in all competitions, the best return of his career, and the club's Players' Player of the Year award. On 24 June 2020 he scored the first hat-trick of his career in a 3-0 win over Sheffield United, played behind closed doors at Old Trafford; no United player had managed one since Robin van Persie in 2013. Injuries and competition for places later cut his role. In January 2022 he was loaned to Sevilla until the end of the season, making 12 appearances and scoring once in Spain. He returned to Manchester in the summer of 2022 and stayed in the squad until the club announced on 27 May 2024 that he would leave. He finished his time in England with 317 appearances and 90 goals.
With France
He won his first senior cap on 4 September 2015 as a substitute against Portugal and made his first start on 11 October 2015 against Denmark. Didier Deschamps took him to Euro 2016 on home soil, and he played in the final at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis on 10 July, which France lost 1-0 to Portugal after extra time. Between 2015 and 2021 he collected 30 caps and scored 2 goals.
Greece and Mexico
On 19 September 2024 he signed for AEK Athens as a free agent. In Greek football he made 24 appearances and scored 9 goals in all competitions. On 12 September 2025 he joined Liga MX side Monterrey on a two-year deal. His spell in Mexico was brief: coach Matías Almeyda left him out of the plans for the following tournament, and in June 2026 he left the club by mutual consent.
Monterrey