Antony's role at Man Utd confirmed by Erik ten Hag

Karan Tejwani

1 Sept 2022 10:10 BST
3 min read

Erik ten Hag has confirmed new signing Antony’s role in the Manchester United team after the English club confirmed his signing from Ajax.

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Manchester United were in long negotiations with the Dutch champions over the transfer and finally completed the move this week, with the player signing for a fee of €95 million plus €5 million in add-ons.

Antony was eager to make the move as well, even refusing to train while negotiations were going on as he wished to force the transfer from Ajax.

Now, Ten Hag has spoken about what Antony’s role will be and it’s one familiar to the one that made him so good at Ajax, as the coach oversaw his development at the Amsterdam club.

Ten Hag discusses Antony role

Speaking ahead of the match against Leicester, Ten Hag discussed the signing of Antony before it was officially confirmed on Thursday morning.

He was asked whether Antony would continue playing on the right side and the coach agreed, saying it was best for the player to do so.

Ten Hag said: "If it happens (the transfer) – yes. It’s difficult to talk about a player we haven’t signed. We want to do it. He’s one with the right fighting spirit."

Antony is the only left-footed senior attacker Manchester United have, with Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho, Anthony Martial, Cristiano Ronaldo and Anthony Elanga all being naturally right-footed.

Reunited.

EtH 🤜🤛 @Antony00 #MUFC pic.twitter.com/8le96MZnhk
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) September 1, 2022

Ten Hag also believes the competition in the squad will rise following Antony’s signing and it’s something to benefit the rest of the team, improving their performances.

"It’s good that there is competition," Ten Hag said. "I think it’s natural in a top club – this situation has to be there. You have to push players to the highest levels. I’m sure they are happy with it as well.”

Antony completed his move on Thursday morning, signing a five-year deal until 2027 and is expected to make his debut at the weekend in the home fixture against Arsenal.