Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho has said that in-form French forward Anthony Martial is finally releasing his potential.

The 21-year-old struggled for consistency during the 2016-17 campaign, and it had been suggested that he would be solid before the start of the new season.

Inter Milan are believed to have asked for Martial in the reported deal for Ivan Perisic, but Man United were not prepared to lose the former AS Monaco attacker.

Martial has scored five times and provided five assists in eight Man United appearances this season, and starred in Wednesday's 4-1 victory over CSKA Moscow in the Champions League.

Mourinho has previously been critical of Martial, but the Portuguese has claimed that the forward is now maturing as a footballer.

Mourinho told BT Sport:

"He is understanding and appreciating what I want. I think the game also adapted to his qualities, the way we played adapted to his qualities too.

"He had lots of freedom and lots of support, lots of quality around him too and I’m happy.”

Martial, who is valued at £30m by transfermarkt.co.uk, has been left out of the France squad for their upcoming 2018 World Cup qualifiers against Bulgaria and Belarus at the start of next month.