A disregarded aspect of Mourinho’s psychological toll on Anthony Martial, the stripping of his shirt number. (short thread)

Performance on the pitch isn’t solely based on one’s ability to play the game, it includes emotional well-being as well. After Mourinho’s appointment, his introduction to the previous year’s Golden Boy award winner was taking away his shirt number.

A shirt number in football isn’t just a number, it’s tied to one’s recognition and brand. To many footballers, it also carries emotional attachment as they’ve identified that number to be their uniform usually for as long as they’ve played the sport.

Martial had just had his breakout year with his favorite number, one he probably thought he’d wear for his future at the club. The 19 yr old couldn’t have expected that a few months later, his favorite number would be stripped from him with no prior explanation.

Yes, just like the rest of us, Martial wasn’t informed of this decision before it happened. Subject to much acclaim, Martial was getting ready to have his shirt number spearhead a marketing campaign that summer with the moniker, “AM9”.

This affected the player’s heart but also his pockets. A lot of marketing progress was slowed down from the very fact that he had to reinvent his brand. However, the biggest setback was in his relationship with the new manager.

Martial felt wronged for having no prior knowledge before the news broke out that Zlatan Ibrahimovic was going to be United’s new number 9. Obviously, this took a serious toll on his relationship with the new man in charge, but may have simultaneously impacted his play as well.

Like a brand new office layout, Martial had to now work under a new setting. There’s no factual way of pinpointing the direct cause for Martial’s worst season in a United shirt output wise (16/17, Mourinho’s first season) to be because he lost his old number.

But all entails, it’s quite evident the player manager relationship, possibly the biggest influence on one’s performance on the pitch, was heavily affected by this change. Therefore Martial was more likely than not to have a psychological setback from it.