The FIFTY players Man Utd could have signed for price of one Antony

Carlo Garganese

Updated: 20 Aug 2023 21:05 BST
4 min read

Cristiano Ronaldo has claimed Saudi Pro League is better than MLS — © ProShots

Big things were expected from Antony when Manchester United splashed out €100 million for the Ajax winger in the summer of 2022.

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United had made a top-class right-winger a priority in that market but the Brazilian has been a major disappointment so far.

Despite scoring in his first three Premier League matches, the wideman would only find the back of the net once more in the entirety of the 2022-23 season.

He also managed just two assists in the league - and three in all competitions - during his maiden campaign.

© ProShots - Antony has disappointed at Man Utd

His start to the 2023-24 campaign was also dismal with Antony labelled the flop of the match by many fans during the opening day 1-0 win over Wolves. He also was dominated by Destiny Udogie in matchday two during the 2-0 defeat to Tottenham.

There is no doubt that so far the €100m spent on Antony has been a colossal waste of money.

Below we select FIFTY players who have moved since the summer of 2022 who COMBINED cost less than the €100m United paid for Antony.

Of course, this does not take into account salary but only transfer fees.

50 players who cost less combined than Antony

Lionel Messi: €0

Cristiano Ronaldo: €0

Karim Benzema: €0

Randal Kolo Muani: €0

Paulo Dybala: €0

Milan Skriniar: €0

Antonio Rudiger: €0

N’Golo Kante: €0

Franck Kessie: €0

Ilkay Gundogan: €0

Andre Onana: €0

Xavi Simons: €0

Marcus Thuram: €0

Angel Di Maria: €0

Boubacar Kamara: €0

Youri Tielemans: €0

Henrikh Mkhitaryan: €0

Andreas Christensen: €0

Cesar Azpilicueta: €0

Marco Asensio: €0

Roberto Firmino: €0

Konrad Laimer: €0

Raphael Guerreiro: €0

Niklas Sule: €0

Mahmoud Dahoud: €0

Evan Ndicka: €0

Houssem Aouar: €0

Corentin Tolisso: €0

Axel Witsel: €0

Sergio Busquets: €0

Jordi Alba: €0

Alessio Romagnoli: €0

Dachai Kamada: €0

Marcos Alonso: €0

Lorenzo Insigne: €0

Federico Bernardeschi: €0

Giorgio Chiellini: €0

Arne Engels: €100k

Ivan Provedel: €2m

Leandro Paredes: €2.5m

Achraf Dari: €2.7m

Memphis Depay: €3m

Francesco Acerbi: €3.5m

Wilfried Gnonto: €4.5m

Malick Thiaw: €7m

Khvicha Kvaratskhelia: €10m

Romeo Lavia: €12m

Rasmus Hojlund: €17m

Pervis Estupinan: €17m

Kim Min-Jae: €18m

TOTAL: €99.3m

Instead of blowing €100m on Antony, Man Utd could have signed a host of world-class free agents.

These include the two greatest players of their generation, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo (after his initial release from Man Utd), as well as the current Ballon d’Or winner Karim Benzema.

© ProShots - Benzema left Real Madrid on a free transfer this summer

This summer or last, host of other top-class and world-class players have been available for nothing.

These include Randal Kolo Muani (now set for a huge money move to PSG), Paulo Dybala, Milan Skriniar, Antonio Rudiger, N’Golo Kante, Ilkay Gundogan and Angel Di Maria.

Andre Onana also could have been signed for free in 2022 when Inter Milan snapped him up on a free transfer from Ajax. Instead, they signed him this year from Inter for a fee of almost €60m.

© ProShots - Man Utd could have signed Onana a year early for nothing

There are numerous other free transfers - many more in the same position as Antony - who could have signed for nothing.

There are also some top-class players who could have been bought for a bargain fee.

Atalanta bought Rasmus Hojlund for €17m in 2022, they sold him to Man Utd for five times that amount this summer.

Napoli paid just €10m for Khvicha Kvaratskhelia in the summer of 2022. He is now worth over €100m. They also bought Kim Min-Jae for €18m last year and sold him for more than €50m to Bayern Munich, who beat Man Utd to the South Korean centre back.