Manchester United’s acquisition of Antony goes down as one of the worst the club has made over the years.
The recruitment under Erik ten Hag in the first two seasons was quite laughable, with hundreds of millions being poured down the drain by Manchester United.
£86 million of these mistakes came in the form of Antony, who has since dipped out the back door at Old Trafford on a loan to Real Betis – where he has been rather impressive so far.
Antony stats by club
| Club | Games | Goals | Assists |
| Sao Paulo | 52 | 6 | 6 |
| Ajax | 82 | 24 | 22 |
| Man United | 96 | 12 | 5 |
| Real Betis | 6 | 3 | 2 |
United scouts valued Antony at just £25m, which means the club overpaid by £61m which is the clearest sign of all that John Murtough and Richard Arnold should never have been in charge of recruitment.
Antony flopped for two years for United and in hindsight, it was a deal destined to fail. Ten Hag signed several of his Ajax players, with only Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui looking to be successes.
Now it has emerged United could have avoided Antony…
Antony admits almost joining Liverpool
When Antony was signed, there was plenty of excitement as the Brazilian was a walking highlight reel which made him look like a world-beater.
United faced competition for Antony. Liverpool were interested in Antony, something which the player himself has now spoken out on.
“It’s true,” Antony admitted during an interview with Kooora. “I almost signed for Liverpool, but I don’t know what would have happened. I went to Manchester and had incredible moments there. It was a good choice too.”
If Antony had joined Liverpool, he would have faced an insurmountable challenge for minutes with Mohammed Salah ahead of him in the pecking order.
In the interview, Antony also discussed Liverpool’s main man, admitting the Egyptian is Ballon d’Or quality.
“Salah is an incredible player who has been doing great things for a long time. He’s a great player. I don’t know if he’s the best in the world, but he has to be among the best competing for the Ballon d’Or.”
Antony set for another big summer transfer saga
Given all the negativity around Antony, it is easy to forget that he is just 25 years old and has a long time in his career to reach the potential he showed at Ajax.
Antony has been on fire for Betis, which will delight Ineos as it should mean extra interest this summer in terms of purchasing the Brazilian permanently.
In Spain, Antony has looked like a completely different player with a supreme confidence around him which hadn’t been the case since maybe a month into his time at Carrington.
Seeing him thrive elsewhere is good, but of course, it raises the question of whether United are the problem rather than the players.
Where Antony will end up remains to be seen in the summer, but there will surely be no shortage of suitors as United could recoup some of the money spent on him.
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