THOSE with a keen eye will have noticed Manchester United had just eight substitutes, one short of the permitted number, for Saturday’s Premier League fixture against Aston Villa. Injuries and Covid-19 cases left Ralf Rangnick short of options, but it was Anthony Martial’s refusal to be part of the matchday squad that primarily explained the empty spot on United’s bench.

“Yes, he didn’t want to be in the squad,” Rangnick admitted after the 2-2 draw at Villa Park, addressing Martial’s absence at a time when the Frenchman’s future is the subject of much speculation. “He would have been in the squad normally but he didn’t want to and that’s the reason why he was not travelling with us yesterday.”

Martial rejected Rangnick’s claims in a social media post, but the French winger failed to explain why he wasn’t in Manchester United’s squad for the match against Aston Villa when there was clearly a place for him. If Martial had truly wanted to play, he would have been on the bench for Saturday’s game.

Such conduct epitomises the rotten culture that has been allowed to fester at United. The Old Trafford dressing room is full of talented players, but Rangnick has quickly found the character of the group he inherited is nowhere near strong enough to deliver the titles and honours expected by English football’s most successful club.

According to reports, Martial is believed to be on a weekly wage of £150,000. This has proved an obstacle to Manchester United moving on the 26-year-old, who wants to leave, but doesn’t want his ages to be cut. Martial has his admirers, but none that are willing to pay what United are contractually committed to pay the winger until 2024.

Throughout the post-Sir Alex Ferguson age, Manchester United have overpaid players. Time and time again, they have handed out inflated contracts in the misguided belief they would help preserve the value of assets only to find they have restricted the ability for renewal. Look at how Phil Jones is still on United’s books despite playing just one Premier League match in the last two years.

Players no longer arrive at Old Trafford expecting to win, they arrive expecting to get paid. Manchester United’s wage bill is currently estimated to be the largest in the Premier League, but doesn’t correlate to the performances being produced by them on the pitch. It’s no wonder that there is now a culture of mediocrity at the club.

Rangnick has been hired to reshape the team on the pitch, but his biggest challenge concerns the personality of his side. Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp are great tacticians, yet they are also great judges of character. Guardiola and Klopp don’t just know how to spot good players, they can see which players are willing to commit everything to winning. Liverpool and Manchester City fight for their manager. Their players are motivated by more than just what’s in their contract.

United don’t have enough of those players. Bruno Fernandes is one of the few who demands better of those around him, but even he is reportedly putting renumeration ahead of all else in contract talks with the club – recent reports claim Fernandes wants to be made one of Manchester United’s highest-paid players.

Whether or not Fernandes deserves to be paid the same as David de Gea and Cristiano Ronaldo, this is just another episode that underlines Manchester United is a club no longer defined by sporting ambition. Martial’s refusal to sit on the bench at Villa Park offered an insight into true nature of the United squad, but there is a lot more rotting beneath the surface.

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