It will be remembered as the day Anthony Martial introduced himself to Old Trafford. He did it with a goal that had the Stretford End celebrating with cries of “what a waste of money” and, straight away, the most expensive teenager on the planet set about repaying some of the transfer fee that even Louis van Gaal had described as “ridiculous”.


There were four minutes of normal time to play when Martial collected a pass on the left after Christian Benteke’s outstanding scissors kick had just given Liverpoola lifeline their listless performance scarcely deserved.


Martial set off towards goal, saw a gap between Martin Skrtel and Nathaniel Clyne, cut inside and kept going. It needed tenacity as well as skill and Martial’s perseverance took him past Skrtel’s recovery tackle. His shot was dispatched with the calm accuracy of a player who seemed to be at ease immediately with his new surroundings and, in that
moment, the Manchester Unitedcrowd were at least given a better idea why the club have paid an initial £36m, with another £22m in potential add-ons.