As expected, Manchester United is the worst recruit in history...'140 Billion Defeat'Antony"I'm not leaving?"

Nov 15, 2024

Antonio seems to want to take off the label of the worst recruitment in Manchester United history.

British Sports Witness reported on the 14th (Korea time) citing what Georges Nicola, who is very good at the Brazilian transfer market, said on her YouTube channel.

Nicola thought it was good to find Junior Pedroçor, the Antony agent, and ask him directly about the rumours. The corresponding answer was that Antony had no intention of leaving Manchester United`Antony said he had no plans to transfer at all.

He then added "Manchester United recently replaced their manager. Sporting Lisbon head coach Hoobeng Amorim has been hired. He opened up a new possibility that Antony would be better utilized. Antony said, "We have two-and-a-half-year contracts left with Manchester United, so we are going to do that."

Antony is the worst recruit in Manchester United's history. Ahead of the 2022-2023 season, coach Erik ten Hag called on the club to recruit Antony, who understands his football well. Antony was a player brought to Ajax by coach Ten Hag. Manchester United fans doubted the news of recruiting Antony, who was not considered the best player in the Dutch league at Ajax.

In fact, it is common for a coach to recruit his student after moving to a new team. Manchester United also moved to support Ten Hag. Fans' opposition began to grow stronger because of Antony's transfer fee. It invested a whopping 95 million euros (about 140 billion won) to recruit Antony, who is not even the best player in the Dutch league. It also promised 240,000 euros (about 354 million won) per week.

The expectation was, of course, me. In his first season at Manchester United, Antony never improved on the shortcomings that had been pointed out since Ajax's days. It can be said that the first season was a time to adjust, but the problem was from last season. As soon as the season began, Antony's performance began to decline as he suffered from allegations of violence involving his ex-girlfriend.

Antony's performance, which began to falter due to privacy concerns, showed no signs of recovery. Ten Hag's stubborn appointment of Antony has caused serious problems for Manchester United. In the end, coach Ten Hag also began to give up Antony. Antony's first goal in the English Premier League (EPL) in the 2023-2024 season came in the 35th round of the league.

It was the worst season for a player in the top half of the team with a transfer fee of 95 million euros and 240,000 euros a week. The season record proved to be a winger who did not deserve to play for Manchester United with three goals and two assists in 38 games.

Antony has not changed again this season. Ten Hag gave up Antony, and Antony's playing time was extremely limited. Rumors have been raised that Manchester United is selling Antony, but agent Antony also said last summer that the player has no intention of leaving Manchester United.

Antony, who is completely behind Ahmad Diallo and Marcus Rashford, has suffered from a lack of playing time this season. Naturally, from Manchester United's point of view, it is time to consider selling Antony. The British Daily Mail reported in October that "Manchester United are ready to send Antony on loan in January to completely transfer him next summer. This will help proceed with Antony's full transfer next summerUnited are preparing to say goodbye to Antony.

In other words, Manchester United's leadership calculated that there is no team to recruit Antony even if the current performance comes next summer. In response, he planned to send Antony on loan to increase his performance and sell it.

In fact, even under Amorim's supervision, Antony's availability converges to zero. Manager Amorim uses the winger as a center-oriented, but Antony lacks a center-oriented movement. In addition, there is no reason to actively use Antony because his shortcomings are serious in goal-determination and shooting ability.

There are observations that Antony can play wing-back in the 3-4-3 formation, but it is difficult to realize as long as Diogo Dalot and Nusair Mazraoui are present. This is because Antony is not well-received defensively either.

After Manchester United announced the appointment of Amorim, Belgium Sky Sports announced that "Amorim plans to quickly establish his identity within Manchester United. As a direct result of this, Antony, Casemiro, Christian Eriksen and Viktor Lindelof have been put up for sale in the transfer market with the aim of securing significant salaries so that Amorim can recruit players he has already targeted.

Even if Antony doesn't have the will to leave, he won't be able to secure time to play and if the club tries to sell it, it will be difficult to hold out.

rlaeotlr2024@sportschosun.com