Anthony Martial’s falling back into fair favour of manager Jose Mourinho and resurgence at Manchester United has started to propel the Red Devils back up the Premier League. It wouldn’t be at all surprising to see the Frenchman in contention for October’s Premier League Player of the Month, after four goals in his last three appearances, including an exceptional strike against Everton in United’s most recent win.
Martial, bought from Ligue 1 side AS Monaco from under the noses of some of Europe’s elite after attracting respectable attention at Les Monégasques. Martial became the most expensive teenager in football - since beaten by Kylian Mbappe’s move, also from Monaco, to Paris Saint-Germain - after arriving at Old Trafford in the middle of the Louis Van Gaal era in 2015.
An initial £36million was the standalone value that lead to some intriguing bonuses which still stand out as fairly remarkable today, three years on.
Manchester United were required to pay an additional £7.2million if the Frenchman scored 25 goals in the Premier League in a four year time period, a feat he recently managed with his goal in the 3-2 comeback against Newcastle United at Old Trafford, as well as £7.2million after managing 25 caps for France (he’s currently seven away).
United may be thankful that there is also a further clause of the same amount is to be paid out if Martial wins the Ballon d’Or by June 2019. They’ve saved a pretty penny with the 22-year-old out of the running after being omitted from this year’s shortlist.
With Martial a hot topic at the moment and at such a young age still with lashings of potential to be one of the Premier League’s finest imports, The Sportsman takes a look at some of the more unusual contract clauses players have had down the years.
Stefan Schwarz (Valencia to Sunderland)
When midfielder Schwarz was signed by Sunderland in 1999 from Valencia for a club record £4million the club inserted a "Space Clause" that stated that if the Swede were to travel into space his contract with the Black Cats would become invalid. Well, in a world of Elon Musks you just never know, do you?
Ronaldinho (Barcelona to AC Milan)
The Brazilian maestro turned down a move to delusions of grandeur riddled Manchester City who had submitted a bid of then-owner Thaksin Shinawatra’s cleanest £25.5million.
Instead, the 2005 Ballon d’Or Winner moved to the San Siro two join up with AC Milan who promptly inserted an anti-Italy clause in his contract.
This would deny him the chance to play elsewhere in Serie A. Ronaldinho would spend two-and-a-half years with the Rossoneri before leaving to go back to Brazil to join Flamengo.
Rolf-Christel Guié-Mien (Karlsruher SC to Eintracht Frankfurt)
Midfielder Guié-Mien joined up with Eintracht Frankfurt in 1999 from 2.Bundesliga side Karlsruher SC on one condition: he would only sign if his wife was contractually obliged to take cooking classes.
The Congolese made a real hash of his Frankfurt career with the Moody Divas (probably also the nickname of said-wife) relegated in his second season.
