Gotta love the takes on here... this is an apples to oranges comparison. The only thing these 2 have in common is that they're black, French and played for United. Saha was the epitome of a modern day striker, while Martial is more aking to a Berbatov regen, talented, silky, smooth and yet frustrating and pedestrian at times.
Even so, Saha was leagues above anything Martial ever served. We are talking about a guy who benched RVN for the League Cup final and that eventually ended up taking his spot and sending him packing. Mind you, this was a RVN who had a 0.75 goals to game ratio with us, when 1 in 2 was considered world class. That's why goal stats are meaningless in this debate. Different eras, different goal scoring standards.
Ronaldo came in 2nd in the Ballon D'or race when he scored 23 and assisted 16(or something like that). These days, that's considered a good season for Rashford mind you, not even World class.
As for the overall play: Saha had a far bigger impact on our team play than Martial did. He was the complete forward. He could score screamers from outside the box, he could finish, he could score headers, his link up play was very good, he could dribble and most importantly he was a leader and mentally resilient. When injuries robbed him of his starting place he still held his head held high and fought for his place. Sadly, he could never beat them and ended up paying with his United career. And this is the main difference between the two. When injury free, Saha was an absolute unit of a player.
Martial was the epitomy of a luxury player in the Pogba mould. Very talented, very silky, however he never had the mentality to take it to the next level. Mourinho saw that when he came and benched him for Sanchez, and we all remember how that went. Instead of fighting for his place, he chose to sulk. As a matter of fact, Martial only performed when the pressure was off: during his break through season and during Covid season. So to the people believing here that he would somehow compete with Rooney and Ronaldo for the Ballon D'or, let's be real. At best he would've been like Nani, had an amazing 1-2 seasons before SAF would've sold him and replaced him with a grittier and more consistent alternative. People seem to think that if you play in a PL winning squad, everything is easier, which is not the case. Just look at Rooney and his struggle with alchool as means of coping with the insane pressure he had to face. When you play in a PL winning squad, the demand to consistently perform is through the roof. That and the fact that SAF usually had at least 2 other solid strikers competing should tell you all you need to know about the Martial fanfare on here. The lad would've been lucky to last 3 season in our title winning squads. Which is not a shde on him, but more on the people who believe he was world class.