Manchester United legend Edwin van der Sar has hailed the quality possessed by summer signing Antony.
United signed Antony from Ajax in the summer, where Van der Sar is CEO, and the Dutch side drove a hard bargain.
Van der Sar has assured United that the winger is worth it, praising his quality and potential in an interview with The Athletic.
He labels Antony one of the globe’s top stars of the future, and admitted his preference was to keep the winger.
Van der Sar talks up Antony
Van der Sar admits a battle of wills between both clubs drove up the price, with the fee eventually reaching a figure above £80 million for the 22-year-old.
He said: “Still young, still potential. We would have liked to keep him here one year longer — there was not a dire need to sell him, we had money in the bank — but the fee got so high.
“We challenged United to go as far as possible. They have a potential world star.”
Antony also became very headstrong about his own determination to make the move, conducting an interview which made it very difficult for Ajax to keep him.
Since joining, Antony has shown glimpses of his quality, scoring three goals in his first three Premier League games.
Now he is heading to the World Cup with Brazil, and will relish the opportunity to show his quality on the world stage, and really drive home Van der Sar’s comments that he can be a ‘world star’.
Antony will represent Brazil at World Cup as a Manchester United player, alongside colleagues Casemiro and Fred.
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