- Anthony Martial has reportedly reached an agreement with a new club
- The club will be breaking their record salary to recruit the ex-Man United forward
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Anthony Martial has reportedly agreed a record-breaking contract with a European club.
The striker has been a free agent since leaving Manchester United upon the expiry of his contract after a nine-year stint at Old Trafford.
He has been linked with numerous clubs – including Flamengo in Brazil – but is reportedly on the verge of signing a deal closer to home.
Greek outlet SPORT24 reports that he is exchanging final documents with AEK Athens for a three-year contract, while Spain’s Relevo claims he has verbally agreed a move.
Martial is in line to earn £2.5million per season with AEK and the deal would have been announced on Monday night if not for a delay, as per SPORT24.
Anthony Martial is reportedly on the verge of sealing a three-year contract with AEK Athens
The contract will be worth £2.5m per season – the most lucrative in AEK’s history
That deal, amounting to £7.5m in total including bonuses, would be the most lucrative in AEK’s history.
The three-year guarantee will have been persuasive as Martial’s talks with Flamengo reportedly broke down due to his insistence on that contract length.
It had also been reported that clubs such as Lille, Atalanta, Marseille, Besiktas were interested in the 28-year-old.
Were he to join AEK, Martial would link up with ex-Tottenham star Erik Lamela, Watford throwbacks Roberto Pereyra and Nordin Amrabat, and former Brentford goalkeeper Thomas Strakosha.
Lamela is reportedly the club’s top earner currently on a deal worth a reported €2million (£1.7million) per year.
AEK were also in line to loan in David Datro Fofana from Chelsea but that collapsed and he has since joined Turkish side Goztepe for the season.
Despite AEK busting the bank, Martial would be taking a sizeable pay cut from his terms at Manchester United, having been on £250,000 per week.
The Greek side had been hoping to announce the transfer during their 2-0 win over Volos on Monday night but some details still need to be ironed out.
Martial will look forward to a competitive season with AEK after they finished just two points off title winners PAOK last campaign.
However, there will be no European football to whet his appetite after they were dumped out of the third qualifying round for the Europa Conference League by Armenian side Noah in August.
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Read more at DailyMail.co.uk