Did you watch Antony at Ajax before he came to United? I did and he was exciting and skillful and personally I wanted us to sign him long before Ten Hag was ever linked to United. Don't forget Liverpool and Arsenal were also heavily linked with the player. 40% of transfers flop, it happens, sometimes it's more predictable, others it isn't. He clearly hasn't adapted to the league or country, he is devoid of confidence because we don't see any flare, the one time he tried some flare the media, including all our ex players, destroyed him afterwards. And he does seem like a sensitive guy. On top of that he had these allegations thrown at him last year. At this point I don't see him coming good at United, but there is definitely a player there, go watch his Ajax highlights.
I am a human who was alive during that timeframe, I personally liked the player, I am a casual Ajax fan as well, I watched him, liked him and was very aware from the even before Jan his name was being linked with United. It's not just PR, I remember this reality.
On my birthday this year I wanted a steak diner, my wife could have taken me to the local place for a steak that cost $50, but she took me downtown to a fancy place where the steak was $300. Now it was great and I appreciated it, but I asked for a steak, a steak costs $50 normally, but if someone who receives the request takes it upon themselves to think outside the box, that's on them, not the person who made the original request. Was Ten Hag holding them hostage? The Glazers are cheap as hell and take forever to make a decision, do people think Ten Hag called them up and started demanding they fork over as much money as possible? No, he said I want this player, and those two idiots Murtough and Arnold made dumb decisions, and they have both been fired for dumb decisions like that while Ten Hag has been retained because he wasn't responsible. Any manager is going to ask for as much as they can get, it's up to the decision makers at the club to make the right decisions.