Ajax alter Antony asking price – and it’s not good news for Man Utd
Robin Bairner
- 27 Jul 2022 04:00 CDT
- 3 min read
Ajax have raised Antony’s asking price to €100 million in response to continued speculation that Manchester United want to conclude a move for the Brazil international winger, according to reports in the Netherlands.
Man Utd have been chasing the 22-year-old for the duration of the summer, with Erik ten Hag eager to reunite with his former player in Amsterdam.
The Red Devils, though, have been unable to make much headway in the chase for the forward, whose contract with Ajax expires in 2025.
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While some reports in the UK have indicated that they may be willing to lower their transfer fee, Telesport journalist Mike Verweij has reported that the Amsterdam club have instead increased their price for the forward.
The Eredivisie champions had initially put an €80m asking price on the forward, but that has been bumped up significantly in recent times.
Why Ajax can play hard ball over Antony
Ajax can afford to do this, having lost several key players of their first-team squad for big money this summer. Ryan Gravenberch moved to Bayern Munich, Lisandro Martinez has already joined Man Utd after a lengthy tug of war and Sebastien Haller has gone to Borussia Dortmund.
With Nicolas Tagiafico having left for Lyon, Ajax are eager that their first team is not further dismantled.
Head coach Alfred Schreuder has backed that stance up. Following a 3-1 win over Shakhtar Donetsk, he told De Telegraaf: “As a coach, you never know for sure but internally we have expressed that we want to keep this team together. Nobody within Ajax wants to sell Antony at the moment.”
After 4 months without playing, I finally returned with the certainty that I'm ready for the season! @AFCAjax pic.twitter.com/BxBF85wb9r
— Antony Santos (@antony00) July 26, 2022
From the player’s part, he is not publicly pushing for a move away from the club, posting on Twitter: “After four months without playing, I finally returned with the certainty that I'm ready for the season!”
Meanwhile, the indications in the Netherlands are that while Antony wants to join Man Utd, he understands Ajax’s position from a business perspective.
