Earlier on Thursday, we covered a story from Le10 Sport’s magazine regarding Manchester United’s apparent interest in West Ham’s Dimitri Payet, and José Mourinho’s alleged personal phone call to the player to convince him.
We didn’t quite believe it, and what Le10 Sport had to offer next in their print edition is even more far fetched than their big story.
According to the French magazine, with West Ham aware of United wanting their star man, Slaven Bilic and co. would be prepared to ask to include Anthony Martial in any deal for Payet.
The 21-year-old has struggled to recapture the form he displayed last season under Louis Van Gaal, and the London club want to take advantage of that if possible.
The idea here would be for a Martial-Payet straight swap (very, very unlikely considering the players’ respective ages) or a fee paid to West Ham with Martial going the other way on a loan with a view to buy.
Both those scenarios are highly unlikely as Mourinho isn’t prepared to see Martial leave, and, most importantly, the player himself has no intention of swapping Old Trafford for the London Stadium in the near future.
We’re going to say this isn’t going to happen. Just a hunch.
