‘Look at Gabriel Jesus’ - €100m Antony signing branded as ‘MADNESS’

Carlo Garganese

• 12 Mar 2023 13:50 CDT
• 3 min read

Former Everton director of sport Marcel Brands has branded Manchester United’s signing of Antony as “madness”.

Man Utd signed Antony for €100 million from Ajax last summer, having made a new right-winger a priority.

Brands, who is an expert on players from the Eredivisie, believes that United massively overpaid for the Brazilian.

READ MORE: The 50 most expensive transfer fees

Brands says that Man Utd were mad to pay such a high amount when compared to the money Arsenal forked out for Gabriel Jesus from Man City and Barcelona for Raphinha from Leeds.

What did Brands say about Antony?

“If you compare it with transfers that were realistic, such as that of Gabriel Jesus from Manchester City to Arsenal: that was also around that rate,” Brands told Dutch show The Friday Move.

“Those are normal amounts. I think everyone in football knows that Antony was a madness. I think Raphinha is an even better player than Antony, but he left for much less.”

Antony has been heavily criticised for his performances since joining Man Utd.

Despite scoring in his first three Premier League matches, Antony has not scored again all season in the league.

He has also managed only one assist in all competitions, a very disappointing return for a winger or outside attacker.

Antony was disappointing again on Sunday as Man Utd could only manage a 0-0 draw with Soutampton at Old Trafford.

The game was conditioned, however, by Antony’s Brazilian compatriot Casemiro being sent off in the first half.

This result and last week’s 7-0 thrashing by Liverpool has all but ended any hope Man Utd had of getting back into the title race.

United find themselves in third position, 16 points behind leaders Arsenal with a game in hand.