Man Utd pay €15m for Real Betis sensation

Carlo Garganese

Updated: 26 Mar 2025 11:50 GMT
4 min read

Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Ruben Amorim, Man Utd — © IMAGO

Manchester United will have to pay Antony €15m if they want to offload him permanently to Real Betis.

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That is according to former Man Utd goalkeeper Ben Foster, who believes that Antony's salary is so big that the only way he will accept a permanent move to Betis is if United pay him the wages he would lose in the transfer.

Current ETV

Antony

M, AM (R)

Real Betis

Antony

M, AM (R)

Real Betis

ETV Range

€20.4M - €24.9M

Antony has resurrected his career in Spain after joining Real Betis on loan in January.

He has been one of the best players in La Liga, making four goal contributions in seven games and a string of man-of-the-match performances.

Antony's high salary

Antony wishes to make the move permanent but there is a problem with his salary.

He earns at least double at Man Utd what Betis would be able to afford for him, so Foster says that the Red Devils would have to subsidise the rest if they want to sell him.

"With Antony, the rumours are that he's on around £200,000 a week, and there's not many teams in world football that can sign him," Foster said on the Fozzy Podcast.

"Antony has two or three years left on his deal at Man United and isn't going to want to take a pay cut by signing for one of these teams on £100,000 a week.

"I don't care how much money you're on, if somebody says 'Your wages are going to get cut by 50 per cent next year' then it hurts.

"What will most probably happen is if somebody like Real Betis did sign him, Antony will say to Manchester United 'I will accept the transfer to Real Betis. However, I’ve still got two or three years left on my contract, which is worth £20m or £30m'.

"(He will then say) 'What you guys need to do is pay me 40 per cent of that'. It stings when you've invested so much money into a player…and he's produced absolutely zero for Manchester United. They've sent him out on loan, and then all of a sudden he starts performing."

So, according to Foster, Antony will demand a payout from Man Utd in order to leave the club in around the region of €15m.

© IMAGO - Antony has been a disaster for Man Utd

Antony at Man Utd

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

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

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

Antony did not start a game this season in the Premier League or Europa League, playing just 83 minutes of league football off the bench for United before his loan move.

He had one goal and just 400 minutes across 14 games in all competitions this season.