Maybe the difference is I don't see Antony has talentless player but a frustrating player in that he clearly gets into good positons, has good movements and has strong technical ball skills, but a couple of big flaws affect his game. And some improvement in those would help him massively.
Your post makes it seem we have never had situations where a new player struggles in the PL in the first season and then is physically more adept in coming ones!
Rashford example is on point because while he had performed well earlier, he had never shown this level of performance earlier. And most people didn't belive he had it in him until last season. Hindsight bias?