Antony might be a Liverpool player right now if he hadn’t behaved “like an idiot”.
The Manchester United winger, 24, has painfully underwhelmed since his £82million move from Ajax in 2022, and with Erik ten Hag – the man who brought him from Amsterdam to Manchester – now gone, his future at Old Trafford is hanging in the balance. But rewind to the 2021/22 season and Antony was one of the hottest wingers in Europe.
His dazzling box of skills and eye for a goal – averaging one every three Eredivisie games – had the likes of United, Liverpool, Chelsea, Barcelona and PSG all stealing covetous glances. United eventually won the race for his signature, but that might not have been the case had Mo Salah left Anfield earlier that summer.
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According to The Times, ex-Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp “discussed” Antony as a possible Salah replacement in the event that the Egyptian, who had entered the final year of his contract, decided he wasn’t going to sign an extension. Salah ultimately stayed after being handed a £350,000-a-week bumper deal, all but extinguishing Liverpool’s interest in Antony.
That said, the Merseyside club might have passed up the chance regardless, particularly after the soon-to-be United star’s antics in a game for Ajax against Feyenoord in March 2022. The former Sao Paulo man scored a dramatic late winner, and took off his shirt to celebrate.
As such, the referee brandished a yellow card, Antony’s second of the game, and he was sent off. He also picked up a one-match ban for his troubles.
After the match, Dutch pundit Rene van der Gijp said Antony’s behaviour was a bad look and might even ward off potential suitors. He asked on Vadaag Inside: “Suppose we are in the stands together as a scout for Manchester City or Liverpool… and we are looking at Antony, what do you think we would say when we come back on Monday?
“We will not take that. You don’t see a Serge Gnabry, Leroy Sane or Mohamed Salah doing this. Then you can say, ‘He is young’. But it can also get crazier.”
Van der Gijp’s colleague, Wim Kieft, felt the same way, adding: “He is not that young anymore, because he has been doing this for two years. Such a boy cannot be calmed by a coach, in the end.
“Ten Hag will of course never say that Antony behaves like an idiot, but he thinks so. In general, this behaviour is addressed in the locker room. Then someone says, ‘Hey, what are you doing?'”
Since moving to United, Antony has scored just five Premier League goals in 56 games. This season, he’s found minutes hard to come by, having made just one start in all competitions so far.
Ruben Amorim’s arrival feels like something of a sliding doors moment for the forward. It offers him the chance of a fresh start, but if the Portuguese coach doesn’t fancy him, he could well be kicked to the curb.
During Amorim’s first training session at Carrington on Monday, he walked the players through a 3-4-3 build-up drill. Antony was seen operating as a right wing-back, suggesting that a new role could be on the cards for the Brazilian.
