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Sevilla’s hopes of securing the Anthony Martial transfer appear to be fading fast amid claims the Manchester United striker is looking instead to sign for one of their LaLiga rivals.

United interim boss Ralf Rangnick revealed earlier this week that Martial has asked to leave Old Trafford. And what’s more the German coach “understands” the striker’s desire to depart, but he has insisted any transfer must be right for the club.

Talks between the pair last week resulted in Rangnick accepting that Martial’s time looks to be up. But he made it clear that no formal offer had yet been made by any club, despite interest from Sevilla.

Indeed, Sevilla remain very much focused on signing Martial this month and are prepared to bide their time. However, their decision to stall on negotiations appears to have backfired amid claims that the Frenchman now has a move elsewhere in his sights.

As such, Catalonian paper Sport now claims Martial is now targeting a move to Barcelona. Despite the capture of Ferran Torres earlier this month, Barcelona remain keen to further boost their forward line.

Efforts to sign Alvaro Morata, who was Xavi Hernandez’s first choice, appear to have failed. That’s after Max Allegri informed the striker he would be staying put at Juventus.

Now Sport claims they are sniffing round a deal for Martial – and the striker has informed his agent it’s a move he fancies making.

As such, they write that Martial and his agent have ‘frozen’ all other offers they have received so far and are waiting for a response from the Blaugrana.

For Manchester United’s part, they have always made clear that Martial can move on. However, as with Sevilla, any suitor must pay not a penny less than their €40m (£33.3m).

Loan-to-buy option for Barcelona

Whether that fee remains within Barcelona’s reach remains to be seen. However, with finances tight, the Catalonians may have to offload before they can buy, meaning their pursuit of Martial may go to the wire.

That said, Sport does raise the possibility of a potential loan-to-buy deal if Barca include an obligation to purchase Martial come the end of the season.

Rangnick, however, remains cautious over sanctioning a transfer for the 26-year-old.

“He explained to me he’s been at Manchester United now for the last seven years and he feels it’s the right time for a change, to go somewhere else,” said Rangnick.

“I think in a way this is understandable, I could follow his thoughts. But, on the other hand, it’s also important to see the situation of the club; we have Covid times, we have three competitions in which we still have high ambitions and want to be as successful as we can be.”

United advised to secure Martial transfer exit

But former West Ham and Celtic striker Frank McAvennie thinks Rangnick should cut Martial loose, regardless of the cost.

“He’s never done that much, has he?” McAvennie told Football Insider.

“I seem to remember him having a really good season in his early days there but that was four or five years ago now.

“Since then he’s hardly set the world on fire. I imagine he’s on massive wages and we all know he cost a fair amount.

“That’s fine if you are contributing every week and are scoring goals. Martial isn’t doing that and hasn’t done it for a long time.

“If an offer comes in I would let him go, at any cost. On a basic level, you can’t have players who don’t want to be there.

“It’s a recipe for disaster. Situations like this can turn ugly very quickly and they won’t want that to happen.

“Martial is earning big money, he wants to leave, he’s not playing. He’s probably upset, you have to let him go.”

READ MORE: Rangnick agrees first signing as ‘secret’ talks reveal two striker deals

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