Man United suffer massive Antony blow

Carlo Garganese

Updated: 31 Jul 2024 16:31 BST
4 min read

Manchester United have been dealt a big blow in their attempts to sell Antony as it has emerged that Besiktas are not interested in the Brazilian.

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Man Utd are desperate to offload the €100 million top this summer in order to raise cash to sign more players.

There were reports that Besiktas were set to make a move for the winger.

However, Rudy Galetti reports there is no truth to this and that Antony will be staying at Man Utd.

This comes after the agent of Antony made it clear that his client will not be leaving the club this summer.

Antony has endured a horrific couple of seasons at Manchester United since joining from Ajax, and has become something of a figure of fun among fans and the media.

There have also been reports of a move back to Brazil with Sao Paulo.

What did Antony agent say?

These reports were shot down by Antony’s agent Junior Pedroso, who said: “Talking to President Julio Casares, he assured that there is no possibility of this deal happening, it is something completely out of the reality of São Paulo. Antony is not coming back now, his priority is Manchester United.”

Man Utd manager Erik ten Hag has also stated that he is counting on Antony this coming season.

“He [Antony] certainly showed that potential in the first month: he scored three times in his first three games," Ten Hag told AD Sportwereld.

"After that it became more difficult, last season was not good. But I am still convinced that he has the potential to play at this club. We want this club back to where it was more than a decade ago, to a club that wins the Premier League, which can win Champions Leagues.

"We are really a long way away from that, I think. I think we’ve taken steps since then, otherwise we wouldn’t have won two prizes. But we are not yet so far that a ‘winning culture’ already prevails here in all respects. Our standards, our norms and values, still need to go up."

© IMAGO - Antony has been a disaster for Man Utd

Antony at Man Utd

Antony joined from Ajax in the summer of 2022 for €100m and big things were expected of Ten Hag’s former pupil.

However, Antony has been an unmitigated disaster at Old Trafford. He bagged just four Premier League goals in his inaugural season and looked well short of the physical, mental and even technical levels required to play for such a big team.

This past season, Antony was even worse with just one Premier League goal and one assist.

Despite this, Ten Hag has often persisted with Antony in the starting XI but things have gone from bad to worse for the Brazilian.