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Martial can be among world’s best: Herrera

Manchester United midfielder Ander Herrera says wantaway teammate Anthony Martial is focused on the upcoming season and has the potential to be one of the best players in the world.

He was speaking ahead of Thursday morning's (Singapore time) International Champions Cup clash with AC Milan at the Rose Bowl in California.

Martial has been linked with a move away from Old Trafford after his agent last month declared that the French attacker wanted to leave the club.

He has since been linked to moves to Tottenham Hotspur, Bayern Munich and Chelsea.

But Herrera insists the 22-year-old is focused on the upcoming season, rather than speculation regarding his future.

Said the Spaniard: "He can be one of the best players in the world and I think he is very, very focused this season to smash it.

"When you have players like Anthony, like Marcus (Rashford), Jesse (Lingard), Juan (Mata), Alexis (Sanchez), those (are the) kind of players that can change the game.

"If one of them cannot play, we have three or four more, so we have lots of options.

"I think we shouldn't think that any other club in the Premier League have better players because we have at least as good (players) as our opponents.

"Now it's all about work, confidence... I am confident with them because they are all amazing players, and Anthony looks very sharp."

Former England striker Dean Ashton believes that Martial would be his sharpest at another club, noting that the wide forward is the wrong fit for United.

He told talkSPORT: "He's a player who, for me, at this moment flatters to deceive.

"When you watch him play he does some brilliant things and looks exciting, (but) he just doesn't give that end product and a consistent performance throughout a whole game; he just shows little flashes.

"Also, he's defensively poor - especially in a (Jose) Mourinho team where he likes his wide players to do a job.

"But you can just see he has so much talent - electric pace, can finish - but he needs to do it consistently. If you are at a top club you can't afford to have a couple of bad games.

"I know he's young, but at the moment it doesn't seem the right fit, and maybe he does need to go to a different club that will give him a bit more freedom where he can really thrive, because I don't think that's going to happen at Manchester United."

Martial joined United from Monaco in 2015 for an initial fee of £36 million (S$64.4m). He scored 11 goals last season.

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