Ajax director of football Marc Overmars has revealed that the Dutch side were considering a move for Manchester United forward Anthony Martial while he was still at Lyon, but the asking price was prohibitive.
Martial moved to Old Trafford from French Ligue 1 club Monaco earlier this summer for a fee of €50m, that could rise up to €80m with add-ons.
And the youngster has impressed all and sundry with his early impression in the English Premier League. He started his life in the English top flight with a remarkable goal against Liverpool and has gone on to grab two more league goals since.
Prior to his move to Monaco in 2013, the Frenchman was at Lyon from 2009.
And Overmars, who has been the director of football at Ajax since June 2012, has revealed that the Dutch giants tried to sign him while he was still at Lyon, but were put off by the prohibitive fee of €8.5m demanded by Les Gones.
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"We followed him closely when he was 16, but then Monaco arrived first and took him from Lyon for €8.5m”, Overmars was quoted as saying by Italian outlet Calcio Mercato.
“For someone that age, it was quite some figure…”
Martial has turned out eight times for the Red Devils so far and has four goals as well as a solitary assist to his name.
