Manchester United are set to complete the £36m signing of Monaco forward Anthony Martial.

The 19-year-old,

who has been linked with Arsenal,

was allowed to leave the France squad on Monday to travel to Manchester for a medical with Louis van Gaal’s side.

Martial scored eight goals in 31 Ligue 1 appearances last season.

Should he sign, Martial will become Manchester United’s third most expensive signing.

Midfielder Juan Mata

joined from Chelsea

for £37.1m in January 2014, while Angel Di Maria

moved from Real Madrid

for a British record £59.7m in August last year.

After Manchester United lost

2-1 to Swansea

on Sunday, Van Gaal

said he would not panic buy

before the transfer window closes on Tuesday.

France Under-21 international Martial was called up to the senior national team for the first time on 28 August.

“Anthony Martial asked France coach Didier Deschamps for permission to travel to England to sign a contract with Manchester United,”

a statement from the French Football Federation has confirmed. 

“He’ll return on Tuesday morning.”

Martial started his career at Lyon, making his professional debut in December 2012, before joining Monaco in June 2013.

This summer he agreed a one-year extension to his previous deal, taking his contract up to 2019.

At the time, Monaco vice-president Vadim Vasilyev said Martial was “untransferable”, with Tottenham

reported 

to have shown interest.

‘Pace and power’

On calling up Martial to the senior France squad, Deschamps

said: 

“He plays centrally, but often drifts into wide positions, more on the left than the right.

“He’s got a good combination of pace and power. He’s a young player obviously, but he’s got an interesting profile in an area where it’s not easy to find players with both strength and speed.

“He’s got good potential and I want to see how he does with the squad.”

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