And to think, Jose Mourinho wanted to sell Anthony Martial. It is perhaps even more surprising that no club sought to punish the manager’s gross misjudgement.

He is the manager no more, of course, and it is the re-emergence of talents such as Martial that tell you why.

In fact, is there any Manchester United player who has not improved for the removal of Mourinho’s smothering presence and needless hostility?

Anthony Martial capped a superb display with a great goal as Manchester United beat Fulham

Martial’s solo-effort helped United to a 3-0 victory against struggling Fulham on Saturday 

Paul Pogba scored the other two as United cruised to another three points in the league 

Martial revealed this week that he shares a joke with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in training, as if such an occurrence should be worthy of news. Given what went before, it clearly is.

Solskjaer, says Martial, laughs at how many chances he misses in training, the punchline being that he only needs one opportunity to score come match day.

His goal here, however, did not even constitute a half chance. When he received possession, 10 yards inside his own half, the best chance he had was to clear his lines, such were the sparsity of options ahead of him.

The only route to goal was one that required a 50-yard run through both a swirling wind and Fulham’s defence. In the end, the former provided more resistance than the latter.

Martial’s re-emergence and new contract shows how he is the future of United 

Martial still had to find a finish, though, and Solskjaer would not have been laughing had he missed this one. No chance.

It was classic Martial, opening his body and rolling home Henry-esque. That he was in a position to set about his one-man offensive owes everything to Solskjaer’s instruction that he need not worry about defensive duty. Under Mourinho, he would have been picking up the ball masquerading as a left-back.

So worried were Fulham about Martial that, trailing by two, Claudio Ranieri risked – and then incurred – the wrath of his own fans when replacing forward Andre Schurrle with defender Cyrus Christie, the idea being damage limitation.

As it was, Solskjaer had the same thought and withdrew Martial with 20 minutes remaining, preservation the name of the game ahead of Tuesday’s visit of PSG in the Champions League.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side head into the Champions League with growing momentum 

Two-goal Paul Pogba joined his countryman in the dugout within five minutes and he, too, is set to figure from the off in three days’ time.

In this form you’d make United favourites to progress. How different that would have been had Mourinho still been in charge. Martial may well have been playing for PSG, for starters.

As it is, he has just signed a new five-and-a-half-year contract. Martial is the future of the club, a future that is a darn sight brighter for the presence of Solskjaer and the liberation of their once-shackled stars.