What can Anthony Martial do for Manchester United? The more pertinent question, perhaps, is what can Manchester United do for Anthony Martial?

Bear with me here. Don’t start with the zillions of pounds he will be earning for the privilege of playing at Old Trafford. There are two sides to the deal that made Martial the world’s most expensive teenager. While on the one hand he has an incredible opportunity, on the other he has been robbed of any chance of a normal football development (whatever normal is in the modern game).

Only the few move forward on their career path in such a hectic fashion. It is exciting but can also be daunting with such an unforgiving rate of change. Adaptation will take place in front of an impatient global audience. Martial is about to embark on the next phase of his career fresh from his first taste of being a full international for France. Life is suddenly moving dizzyingly fast.

Here’s a novel suggestion – how about we give him six months, or even a season, to find his feet without venting forth with verdicts on what he is capable of? Are we able to display the consideration that he is just a talented young sportsman whose life will now be played out under a microscope he might not be totally prepared for? Admittedly, even if it’s a nice idea, there are £36m (plus add-ons) reasons why that’s unlikely to happen.

Martial is not the first youngster whose world has been flung into the stratosphere overnight. But when Didier Deschamps, the France coach, described this switch as moving to “another galaxy” it’s important to note Martial is travelling without a great deal of astronaut training. There will be a considerable range of challenges when he heads for Manchester after this international break. He will need a lot of assistance, understanding and as much patience as the club can construct around him.

There are two players in particular at United who are best placed to offer special support and guidance. Morgan Schneiderlin, as Martial’s only compatriot in the dressing room, has to undertake a lot of responsibility for helping the new No9. The fact Schneiderlin is getting used to the club is one of those things. He must guide Martial through the nuances of Premier League football, the ways of the manager from what he has witnessed so far, and living in England.

The other player who can empathise with the weirdness of becoming a team member with a scary level of expectancy on the Old Trafford stage is Wayne Rooney, who has lived through something similar. The England captain may well have to make his own club form a priority but few people are as well placed to tell Martial about what to expect if he hits a hurdle or two in the months ahead.

The comparison with Thierry Henry has been used freely, and if Martial can emulate that impact in his debut season in the Premier League that would be remarkable – Henry started slowly but once he clicked, scored 26 times in his maiden campaign. Yet even if the players share some stylistic similarities, the comparison is not entirely fair at this point. Henry arrived as a very different person into a very different environment.

Henry moved to Arsenal a few days before his 22nd birthday. Although his goalscoring record was not particularly prolific up to that point, experience-wise he had a handful of years in Ligue 1 under his belt, had won the title in France, been voted French young player of the year, was a World Cup winner, and he had also learned some tough lessons. He had to deal with a difficult season of below-par form, a meaty transfer saga involving Real Madrid which went wrong, and a big move, to Juventus, which went OK without being outstanding. Not long after savouring victory in the 1998 World Cup final he was demoted back to the under-21s. By the time he was Martial’s age, Henry had seen enough to remark: “In one year I’ve aged 10 years.”

Martial arrives at United without that kind of experience. He also joins a club which brings so much more that is new. Henry had been a protege of Arsène Wenger so had a strong connection with the coach, and he had a number of older French players who were established in England to lean on – Patrick Vieira, Emmanuel Petit and Gilles Grimandi. He also came into a team who – although they needed a speedy young striker to replace Nicolas Anelka – were well blessed in attack.In his first season Henry had Dennis Bergkamp, Kanu, Davor Suker and Marc Overmars for company. The pressure on Martial looks intense before he has even kicked a ball, and the 19-year-old does not speak English yet. Given the departures of strikers at Old Trafford this summer, the hope has to be that he will hit the ground sprinting but the critical thing from the club’s point of view is to try as best they can to create an environment to allow him to progress with as much support, and as little pressure, as is realistically possible.

If the list of most expensive teenagers up to now is any kind of guide, a number have gone on to have careers that reflect the faith in their potential. Rooney, Sergio Ramos and Sergio Agüero are fine examples. Others, such as Antonio Cassano and Javier Saviola, had that touch of maverick that would never quite be tamed into a dependable talent that is totally trusted. Then there is the Anderson example, who did not exactly live up to the hype.

As Henry said of Martial’s fee, the figures are “mind blowing” for a player who, by the nature of his age and limited experience, remains a gamble. It may be whistling into a hurricane to even suggest it, but let’s try cutting him some slack as he tries to find his feet.