Gary Neville has strongly criticized Anthony Martial, the underperforming Manchester United striker, and believes he shouldn’t be leading the line for the club any longer.

The injury-prone Frenchman was chosen to start in Wednesday’s Carabao Cup match against Newcastle at Old Trafford. Manchester United had a humiliating night, losing 3-0 to Newcastle’s B team and being eliminated from the competition. Martial was substituted in the 64th minute and has now gone 13 matches in all competitions this season without scoring. In the previous season, he only managed to score nine goals in 29 appearances.

Gary Neville believes that Martial’s ongoing participation highlights the poor quality of United’s recruitment. He criticized the former Monaco striker and even suggested that his lack of star quality has hindered summer arrival Rasmus Hojlund

‘Sometimes I ask myself the question, when you walk away from a broadcast like Sunday, thinking, “Are we being too harsh?”,’ said Neville on Sky Sports prior to kick-off on Wednesday night.

‘But when you hear that stat that a guy [Martial] has been at the club nine years, a goalscorer that cost £50 million, £60m, £70m, has scored basically 89 goals in nine years and we still can’t get him out the club, I don’t think we are being too harsh. I don’t think we’re being harsh enough.

‘The failings of the football department and recruitment is just absolutely incredible. They’re human beings at the end of the day and no one wants to go on the pitch, play badly and not achieve their standards. Nobody wants to be injured.

‘So I accept all those factors but the reality is there is no way he should still be leading the line at Man United in any competition, even the Carabao Cup.

‘It’s just where the club is at the moment, they don’t have a centre forward apart from the young lad Hojlund who I think has real promise but he needs experience alongside him.

‘I was saying before, if Hojlund came into Manchester United and his partner was Andy Cole or Dwight Yorke or Eric Cantona, I think you’d be seeing a sensation because the pressure would be off him.

‘But he’s come into the club and been asked to be the real thing and I feel for him a little bit. I don’t feel for Anthony Martial because he’s been here a long time.’

Asked about Anthony Martial, Cole himself – who was on punditry duty – said: ‘It’s a tough one.

‘He’s been here nine years and scored 89 goals. When you play centre forward at a club like Man United, that’s not enough goals.

‘He’s been given another opportunity today, and he could get goals but can he take Man United where they need to be? He’s been here nine years and not done it so it’ll be very difficult for him to do it now.’