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Manchester United winger, Antony, started life at Old Trafford with a bang scoring on his debut at Old Trafford against Arsenal.
In fact, he broke a record, becoming the first player to score in his first three Premier League games for the Mancunian club.
However, this really was as good as it got for the Brazilian and the enormous transfer fee of €95m has been a massive weight on the 24-year-old’s shoulders.
The player was brought to Old Trafford by Erik ten Hag in the dying embers of the 2022 transfer window in controversial circumstances.
Having already raided Ajax for Lisandro Martinez earlier in the summer, the Dutch club demanded a huge fee for the winger. According to The Athletic, who has taken a deep dive into the player’s struggles in England, it is claimed that United had originally walked away from a deal when Ajax demanded €60m earlier in the summer.
In fact, it was said that during Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s time at the club, Antony was scouted and valued at under €30m.
Nonetheless, the player was signed for the mammoth fee, United’s second biggest in history after Paul Pogba, and would play 44 times, scoring eight goals for the club in his first campaign.
However, despite a mixed first season, the wheels really came off last spring for Antony as it has been almost one year since he scored his last Premier League goal and the only team he has been able to score or assist against since has been League Two Newport County in January, where he grabbed a goal and an assist.
The Dutch coach has always been a big proponent of the Brazil international’s abilities claiming he was “unstoppable” when on song but even he has realised the gigantic limitations to the player’s game.
The outlet have gone into detail to point out how far the player’s performance levels have dipped when compared to his Eredivisie days.
Of course numbers in the Eredivisie will be better than the much tougher Premier League but the drop off is genuinely terrifying when comparing the player’s league statistics between 2021-22 and 2023-24.
Where he had a credible 0.42 goals per 90 minutes statistic in the 2021-2022 season at Ajax, this has tumbled to 0 this season. He had figures of 0.37 non penalty expected goals, which has declined a lowly 0.14. It is not even that he is just missing chances, he isn’t creating any. Furthermore where he averaged 4.12 shots per 90 two seasons ago, he only takes 2.48 now.
However, the real statistics that highlight that the player is at the nadir of his confidence can be clearly seen in his take-ons and touches in the penalty area.
The Brazilian averaged 2.19 take ons in 21-22 but now only dribbles at defenders 1.62 times a game. What’s more, he used to enjoy 5.69 touches in the opposition penalty area, where this has now plummeted to 3.9.
These are the statistics of a winger bereft of confidence and who carries no real threat in the opposition’s box.
Consequently, Antony has been named on the bench in United’s past nine league games and has only seen a total of 50 minutes of action across all the games.
He even seems to have fallen behind youngster Omari Forson in the pecking order, as the academy product was named as a starter against Fulham recently, while the Brazil international had to settle once again for a place on the bench.
The Athletic claim that sources close to the player admit that he understands that he has not been good enough and that he has “accepted that he has not shown the consistency required to hold down a regular starting place since returning to the club’s Carrington training base following a leave of absence last September”.
Despite the winger’s struggles for form starting much earlier, the correlation between the player’s form falling off a cliff and the player’s legal problems cannot be totally ignored.
Ten Hag has already said as much to the media when he stated in January, “I think his off-field issues stopped him playing.”
The player was initially asked not to train with the club when the allegations were first made public but he was quickly invited back to play for the Old Trafford side, despite the fact that negotiations are still ongoing in both Brazil and England and no resolution seems in sight.
In the interest of fairness, the one thing the player has been able to do, which certainly adds value to his manager’s system, is being a committed presser.
“Going into this weekend’s round of matches, he leads the way among Premier League players to play more than a quarter of available top-flight minutes this season for winning possession in the final third, taking the ball away high up the pitch 1.71 times per 90 minutes.”
These figures alone are certainly no reason to guarantee the player’s future at the club. However, there are numerous obstacles to overcome.
The Peoples Person has relayed that INEOS would love to get rid of the player this summer to free up playing and financial space in the squad but this is easier said than done.
The ludicrous fee that the Red Devils paid for the player means that any sale would most likely fail to make a profit under Financial Fair Play rules.
“In clubs’ accounts, a new player’s transfer fee is amortised — that is, spread over the length of their contract. After signing for an initial pound sterling fee of £81.3million on a five-year deal, Antony’s amortised cost will stand at £32.5m at the end of next season, his third at Old Trafford. If he were to be sold after June 30 this year, any fee would have to come in above £32.5m to guarantee a profit.”
With wages in the region of £200,000 a week, it is very unlikely anyone is paying those wages or over £30m in a fee for the much-maligned winger.
However, the real challenge to selling the player is his poor reputation and the fact he is currently being investigated in two separate countries for serious allegations of domestic abuse.
In essence, United and Antony seem stuck with one another unless the player accepts a massive wage drop and United demand a tiny portion of the transfer fee they spent on him. Neither appear likely.
For what it’s worth, according to The Athletic, Antony is determined to stay at Old Trafford and have a go at resurrecting his career but should Ten Hag be sacked in the summer, that might be the last straw. And as his playing time shows, he isn’t even convincing the one fan he does have within the walls of Old Trafford.
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