Manchester United crashed out of the Carabao Cup at the first time of asking last night after an unexpected loss to West Ham.

After a dramatically narrow victory over the same opponents in London over the weekend, United returned to home comforts for the cup clash.

The Hammers however, were in no mood for a repeat result, exacting their revenge thanks to a Manuel Lanzini strike early in the first half.

The Red Devils spurned a glut of chances to haul themselves level with concerns starting to simmer about the depth of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's squad.

Anthony Martial, in particular, endured a torrid night, failing to take his opportunity to impress after months of bit-part appearances.

The Frenchman has scored just twice in his last 24 games for the club, both of which came in the 9-0 leathering of Southampton back in February.

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Enter Giveaway

In truth, had the forward been shown the door over the summer, it is hard to imagine that too many United fans would have been dreadfully disappointed and, after his performance on Wednesday, that consensus can only have been exacerbated.

However, while they may want to see the back of him, a report in EuroSport has shed some light on why doing just that might be tricky for United.

According to said report, Martial has been given the green light to leave United, but there are fears he may be priced out of such a move with the Red Devils demanding a hefty some for the Frenchman's services.

United have reportedly slapped a whopping £40 million asking price on the 25-year-old, who currently rakes in a tidy £250,000 a week at the club.

While there was brief interest from the likes of Barcelona and Atletico Madrid over the summer, there are no current frontrunners to land Martial's signature in January, or next summer, for that matter.

The seismic arrival of Cristiano Ronaldo has seen Martial fall even further down the pecking order at Old Trafford and, after his performance last night, it looks unlikely that he will be able to climb out of that hole.

Whether any clubs will be willing to part with all of £40m for the striker remains to be seen, but one thing is for sure, these are looking like the final months for Martial at United.