Manchester United vs Middlesbrough: Jose Mourinho sends warning to Anthony Martial's agent

The France international scored his side's first goal as they came back from behind late on to beat Middlesbrough

Martial notched the equaliser after Ibrahimovic's knockdown (Getty)

Jose Mourinho warned Anthony Martial to “listen to me” rather than his agent after the Frenchman scored and produced a fine performance in Manchester United’s 2-1 comeback victory over Middlesbrough.

Martial scored his second Premier League goal of the season to equalise for United against Boro with five minutes remaining, but his displays under Mourinho this term have rarely sparkled and he has been linked with a move away from Old Trafford.

Sevilla are the latest club interested in Martial and the player’s agent, Philippe Lamboley, was recently quoted talking up a potential move. Mourinho likened Martial’s situation at Old Trafford to Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s but said the Armenian’s agent has acted differently to Martial’s.

“He played, he created, he scored, he fought, I think he was very positive,” said Mourinho, the United manager, of Martial. “I know that he is a top talent, I knew that Mkhitaryan was a top talent and I was not playing him. In this moment he [Mkhitaryan] even plays left-back when the team is winning, to defend with a little bit more balance.

“Anthony has to listen to me and not his agent. He has to listen to me. He has to listen to me in training every day, in every feedback I give to try to improve players. The Mkhitaryan process, I was having almost every day Mkhitaryan’s agent calling me and saying he will be a better player with you, keep going.

“With Martial, every day I read the newspaper; Martial goes to Sevilla, Martial goes on loan, Martial is not happy. Martial has to listen to me. He is a player with amazing conditions to be a top player.”

On his side’s fifth successive league victory, Mourinho added: "We managed to do something that is amazing which is to bring the fans to the pitch, I think we did that in the last 15-20 minutes. We played with 70,000. We played with them, they were on the pitch. It was too much for a very organised team [Boro]. It was phenomenal. The fans were on the pitch. It was a very good match to finish the year.”

Sir Alex Ferguson was in the stands on his 75th birthday and Old Trafford was rocking by the end. Aitor Karanka, Mourinho’s former apprentice at Real Madrid, praised Middlesbrough’s performance and said there were many positives despite the result.

“I don’t like to lose but I thought the performance was really good against a top team. Once again we’ve competed against a top team, we were winning with five minutes to go," he said.

“We had a consistent game and we had chances to score. I’m really pleased with the players, I’ve told them that they have forget the result. Thy have to be very proud with their performance. He [Mourinho] said sorry because he always wants to win.”