Anthony Martial: From a 'waste of money' to Manchester United's 19-year-old 'sensation'

Three goals in 115 minutes of Premier League action has gone someway to lifting the pressure off Manchester United's £36 million signing. After quibbling over a couple of million for Barcelona's Pedro, Louis van Gaal and Ed Woodward went all out to get the highly rated but largely unproven French youngster from Monaco. Few expected such a sudden return on the investment.

The Martial transfer, the highest fee ever paid for a teenager before taking into account the potential add-ons which could take it to £58m, was almost universally disparaged. It epitomised United's desperate deadline day madness, with the furore over David de Gea's non-move to Real Madrid dominating the spotlight.

The narrative that United had unsettled their goalkeeper, failed to cash in on him and failed to find ready-made competition for the one established striker at the club, an out-of-form Wayne Rooney, was an attractive one. In Van Gaal's biggest game of the season against Liverpool he started Marouane Fellaini up front, days after describing the fee for the teenager as "ridiculous". The pressure was on Martial's very expensive shoulders to make an immediate impression.

If there's any game to get your debut goal in, it's against your biggest rivals. Michael Owen didn't have a particularly successful time at Old Trafford, and is hardly fondly remembered by United supporters, but his last-minute winner in the Manchester derby indebted the fans to him.

The occasion of the debut goal was important, but the manner of it added a new dimension. United fans have not seen a striker attack the opposition goal in the manner that Martial did against Liverpool for some time. The comparisons to Thierry Henry were inevitable and predictable but not without merit. The silky touch, the turn of speed, the way he turned Martin Skrtel and, finally, the way he twisted his body to side foot the ball into the bottom corner were all reminiscent of his countryman.

The company that Martial keeps for scoring three goals in his first two Premier League games doesn't exactly inspire confidence. Nor the fellow teenagers who scored in their first two games, who both fell away by the prime of their career for one reason or another. Instant success is no guarantee of long-term returns. Van Gaal said that Martial was not bought for him, but for the next manager of Manchester United. This instant reward was not expected.

The France international looks a better finisher than his record at Monaco ever suggested. Fifteen goals in 68 appearances isn't spectacular, but Martial was bought on raw potential, not his record so far. With Wayne Rooney continuing to struggle for form and rhythm, and looking a world away from the regular goalscorer he has been in the past five years, Martial now appears to be the best finisher at the club.

What the 19-year-old does next will be fascinating to see, but even if the goals dry up this year he will still be only 20 by the end of the season. There's a lot of miles left in the tank for a youngster who looks to have all the raw ingredients to succeed at top-level football.