Amorim reveals why Antony flopped at Man Utd

Tom Weber

Updated: 1 Mar 2025 13:33 GMT
3 min read

Ruben Amorim believes that a lack of physicality doomed Antony to fail at Manchester United.

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The Brazilian has gone down in Premier League history as one of the worst transfers ever. Man Utd spent €95 million on Antony in 2022, but he never managed to live up to his inflated price tag.

Even his main backer, Erik ten Hag, gave up on the 24-year-old towards the end of his reign at Old Trafford and Antony had little hope of succeeding after the Dutchman's exit.

Indeed, new head coach Ruben Amorim barely utilised him and the tricky winger unsurprisingly left the club on loan in January, joining Real Betis. The move to Spain proved to be a masterstroke as Antony had been a man reborn in Seville.

The attacker is much more suited to Spanish football and he is thriving at Betis. With three goals and two assists to his name in six appearances, the former Ajax man has shown himself to be one of LaLiga's most exciting players since his arrival.

Amorim reveals Antony's biggest flaw

Recently, former Real Betis player Gabino Rodriguez claimed that Antony failed at Man Utd because he was mismanaged by Ten Hag and Amorim, describing the two managers' respective systems and playing styles as incompatible with the player's strengths.

Now, Amorim has given his view on the matter and he believes that Antony's main shortcoming is a lack of physicality. “When you play against any team in England, the physicality is there," he told Man Utd legend Rio Ferdinand in an interview with TNT Sports.

“If you don’t have physicality, you will struggle a lot. Antony is so much better now in Spain. It’s [because of] a lot of factors but I guarantee you it’s physicality.”