Pathetic Antony is a DISGRACE to Man Utd

Robin Bairner

• 22 Apr 2024 11:30 BST
• 3 min read

You can’t buy class, but Manchester United and Erik ten Hag have proven in the form of Antony that you can spend €95 million on a player who encapsulates all that has gone wrong with a once-great club.

One of the lowlights of Antony’s miserable Old Trafford career arrived on Sunday amidst the celebrations of Man Utd’s FA Cup semi-final victory over Championship side Coventry.

Although United only progressed on penalties, it is a fixture that will go down as a classic. Ten Hag’s side somehow squandered a three-goal advantage and only survived long enough to take the game into a shootout thanks to the most marginal of offside calls right at the death.

READ MORE:Ten Hag close to sack as Man Utd contact Champions League winner to step in

When the Red Devils ultimately prevailed on penalties, it should have been cause for soul-searching.

Not for Antony. Rather than celebrating with his teammates, his first reaction was to goad the Coventry players by cupping his ears.

It was an embarrassing reaction from a player who encapsulates everything a Manchester United player should not be.

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Antony one of Man Utd's all-time flops

Signed from Ajax for €95m – some €30m more than the Estimated Transfer Value (ETV) of the entire Coventry squad – Antony has proven one of Man Utd’s greatest flops of all time.

In his second season at the club, he has failed to score a single Premier League goal and has just one league assist to his credit. It’s not an exaggeration to say that there are players in that Coventry team that would have offered to Man Utd’s cause this season.

There was a time when Man Utd would have reacted to such a scare in a respectful way, yet standards have slipped to an all-time low under Ten Hag.

New owners Ineos, of course, know this and are working on a summer clear-out.

Antony has to be the first to go, with his pathetic antics against Coventry confirming as such.