Manchester United winger Antony has come in for some severe scrutiny this season and rightly so after a poor start to his Red Devils career.
Erik ten Hag decided that the Brazilian was to be the man who would solve the club’s right-wing problems and sanctioned the £86 million move for the 23-year-old winger.
Well, 12 months on, Antony is struggling and the calls to drop the former Ajax winger have grown stronger as time has gone on.
Ten Hag said in his pre-match press conference that he was confident the Brazilian would come good for the Red Devils after a ‘good’ pre-season.
Antony’s future
There were some surprising reports from The Mirror over the weekend that Antony could be used in a swap deal for Flamengo forward Gabriel Barbosa, formerly of Inter Milan.
Since then, it seems everyone from Brazil has gone out of their way to rubbish that rumour and the 23-year-old’s entourage have now had their say about his future at Old Trafford if journalist Jorge Nicola is to be believed.
According to Nicola, via his YouTube channel, who initially rubbished the rumours earlier this week, he says he has been told the prospect of Antony returning to Brazil is a remote one right now.
“Somebody from Antony’s entourage assured me that he won’t be moving to Brazil,” Nicola said.
“United spent a lot of money on the Brazilian, it was a big investment of €100 million (£86 million) and at the moment, the club will insist on him.”
It’s unclear what Nicola means about insisting on him, presumably he means the club will stick with him. Antony’s future looks like it will be at Old Trafford but he is on thin ice.
Antony’s chance
These next two games for the Brazilian are a big chance for the winger to show his fans, and indeed his manager, why such a big amount of money was spent on him.
Antony had a mini goalscoring streak last season when he joined the club but since then his performances have been inconsistent at best.
Starting with FC Copenhagen, the winger needs to prove himself to the fans who are beginning to doubt him in a United shirt.
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