Anthony Martial leaves France training to seal Manchester United deal

We don't think we've ever seen a transfer story confirmed by a national federation before, but here we are. According to the France Football Federation, Anthony Martial has been granted "permission exceptionnelle" to negotiate with Manchester United:

Anthony Martial was presented Monday at 11:00 at the gathering of the France team at Clairefontaine. He requested from Didier Deschamps permission to travel to England to sign a contract with Manchester United. Given the exceptional circumstances, the coach has acceded to the request of the player. Anthony Martial left Clairefontaine Monday at 12:00. He will return on Tuesday morning.

Thanks to Mr G. Translate for his fine work there.

So, er, anybody got any strong opinions on Martial? We don't, which is why we're going to share with you this hilarious anecdote instead. Just now, when typing the headline, we accidentally wrote "Martian" instead of "Martial". What a season it's going to be.