Antony | Here we go! €100mill, contract until June 2027, option 'til 2028.

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Ajax are a selling club, but they are not obliged to accept offers for payers they don't want to sell. No club is. Bizarre thread.
 
No we do not want your deadwood.
This is like Bayern fans trying to push Zirkzee towards us.
Last season:
Asensio: 10 goals in 31 games
Antony: 8 goals, 4 assists in 23 games in a much much weaker league
Is there such a huge gap in performance that merits a 100m bid for Antony vs 40m for Asensio?
Wouldn't it be financially prudent to get Asensio this season and Antony the next (increase squad depth next season)?
 
They are running a football club, they are not being petty just because they are not doing what you or their contracted employee are doing. It's absurd that the club who hold the contract and pay the wages should be bullied by the player and a bigger club.
Well it kind of depends what the lad was promised. If they said two years but the contract is for five years so that we can sell you after two years, at a fair price, and make a big profit and he signed on that basis, that puts a different spin on the situation.

We’re not likely to hear Ajax’s honest side of that because it suits them to say he’s contracted for 5 years and that’s that. It will damage their reputation, in my opinion.
 
Leicester did the same for Fofana for getting 2 millions more and 1 pack of Jaffa cake

Jaffa cakes are nice to be fair.

Waiting a couple of weeks for an extra few million is totally worth it for Leicester and Ajax. Leicester knew Chelsea would come back with a higher bid and Ajax know Man United will do the same.
 
Ajax are a selling club, but they are not obliged to accept offers for payers they don't want to sell. No club is. Bizarre thread.
With you on this. And Antony approaching this as a two year project while signing a five year contract doesn't mean Ajax went back on their word or broke a promise
 
Contract just guarantees employment, unless it's a slave contract. If the player doesn't want to be there anymore makes zero sense to force them to stay.

It guarantees employment for a fixed period. It also makes zero sense to sell too many players in one window.
 
United should walk away.

We are the only club in for him. If he was on the transfer list for £50 mil, I’m not certain any club but us would be interested.

Walk away and let Alex deal with the unhappy player.

If we don’t, we will continue to get gauged for every transfer.

He’s a “luxury “ player anyway. We have Sancho on the right. Would be better off going for a left sided forward at this point.

All three of our wingers are right-footed. It would be nice to have a left-footed attacker. Allows us to use Rashford or Sancho on the left. Antony or Sancho on the right.
 
I keep seeing this being thrown around and I can’t see how it’s true. They shafted us for Martinez, why would they be accepting bids less than what we’re bidding now just because it’s earlier in the window?
You can say that about Martinez, yet while we may have overpaid the optics just look like a club who wanted a player and went out to get him. We've had an interest in Antony but haven't showed we are really serious until now.

Ajax will want to squeeze as much money out of us but by us coming so late with no replacement lined up it only points to them being even more stubborn given they know how desperate we are.

Do you really think we have approached this transfer well? To me it looks like we baulked at the price earlier in the transfer window, had a horrible start to the season and have come back with more intent than ever.
 
Ajax are a selling club, but they are not obliged to accept offers for payers they don't want to sell. No club is. Bizarre thread.

Fans seem as desperate as the club right now. The reality is this transfer looks ominous for us right now. I am very doubtful it goes through.
 
Ajax are a selling club, but they are not obliged to accept offers for payers they don't want to sell. No club is. Bizarre thread.
Man, you're not understanding the simple fact that they lied to BOTH Antony and US as a club. If they had no intention to sell, then they should have went out and said it. That's the problem. And it is a real scummy behavior on their part. If you're unable to see that, then I don't know what to tell you. We've wasted months on a player that apparently was never for sale. Real professional right there from Ajax.
 
Just go in for Asencio. We'd get him for half the price and he's a far more proven quantity than Antony at both club and international level. It feels like Ajax are making some kind of statement of power now by not selling to us for a fee thats far more than a realistic valuation. Theyll sell him in a couple of seasons for 35m. Its annoying but this is why the well run clubs get their business done early.

You could literally get Asensio for less than half of Antony's price. A good way to prevent clubs from fleecing you is to go for alternatives and never come back for that player in future. Is Asensio really going to be that much of a risk over Antony?

Asensio would be a Telles-like signing. Deadwood within months, loaned out in a couple of seasons because nobody will be willing to pay his wages. Doubt he's a target anyways
 
Ajax are a selling club, but they are not obliged to accept offers for payers they don't want to sell. No club is. Bizarre thread.
Come across quite poorly for the club if as a development club, they had a player ask to leave since February and get record offers and still get rejected. That's how players stop picking you, as you are then being difficult to work with for these players who want to use them as a stepping stone.
 
I keep seeing this being thrown around and I can’t see how it’s true. They shafted us for Martinez, why would they be accepting bids less than what we’re bidding now just because it’s earlier in the window?
Because they wouldn't be 3 weeks into a season and they'd have months and months to replace him, rather than a few days.

No one truly believes that we offered over 90m Euros on day 1 of the transfer window then he'd still be an Ajax player. We were slow and ponderous yet again.

It amazes me after 10 years of this incompetence people are still desperate to defend the club.
 
Ajax are a selling club, but they are not obliged to accept offers for payers they don't want to sell. No club is. Bizarre thread.
Players don't sign a 5 year deal and expect to be there for 5 years. That's just not how football works.

5 years is to help retain the value of a player, that's it. It helps them get a 90 euro offer, instead of 50 if he had 1/2 years left.

Ajax know how the game works, and clearly Antony and his advisers are under the impression that when a big club comes (especially PL) he should be allowed to leave for a fair price.

What we've offered is fair, but Ajax are now being stubborn because their ego's been damaged.
 
What's the point in a contract? They have sold a shed load of players already. They are a football club, and like all clubs they decide when to sell their players. The converse is true, a player under contract doesn't have to move if he doesn't want to. That's what contracts are.
Fantastic argument. If people were saying Ajax legally had to sell. Which not a single person is saying.
 
What's the point in a contract? They have sold a shed load of players already. They are a football club, and like all clubs they decide when to sell their players. The converse is true, a player under contract doesn't have to move if he doesn't want to. That's what contracts are.

The 5 year contract is protection for Ajax also. There’s no way they would have agreed to a two year contract because they know they’d get nothing at the end of the agreed term when the player walks out on a free transfer. The contract term is both protection for the club and the player.

If they’ve made a verbal commitment to Antony since February that they would allow him to move this window and they’ve received multiple reasonable bids that have matched (or in this case clearly exceeded) his market value, then its Ajax that comes out looking worse.
 
Name them. We were forced to sell Ronaldo (when he was the best player in the world) when he pulled that stunt in the media and he only agreed for 1 more season out of respect for Fergie.

I don't even follow football anywhere near as much as most do on here but off the top of my head: Rooney, Ronaldo, Modric, Kane, Mbappe,Zaha, Suarez, Gerrard, Vieira, Van der Vaart, Alves, Ribery, Tevez?

I'm sure there are infinite more examples.

Some of you (same with football fans / transfer muppets worldwide in fairness) are being incredibly entitled.
 
Man, you're not understanding the simple fact that they lied to BOTH Antony and US as a club. If they had no intention to sell, then they should have went out and said it. That's the problem. And it is a real scummy behavior on their part. If you're unable to see that, then I don't know what to tell you. We've wasted months on a player that apparently was never for sale. Real professional right there from Ajax.

You might be taking it too personally. Its quite literally just business.
 
Ajax has handled this poorly. They are in a bit of a rebuild given the talent that has gone out that door. Antony has played so well for them and dealt in good faith, and now that the new manager has shown enough concern they seem to realize they're in trouble and think Antony makes the difference. Not so sure he will keep them from having a down season. That plus the player wanting out so badly, I have to say I'd let him go and take that big chunk of money for the rebuild.

They could stock half the team with that money if they go get good players on the rise who fit what they want to do. It's almost like this is personal now.
 
Ajax has made themselves look stupid being so greedy.

Future youngsters will think twice about going if they don't sell him.

nah. We’re stupid.

We give them £50mil for Martinez, meaning they don’t need to make further player sales.

The way Ajax do business, £50mil covers their transfer activity for years.

Then we come back with a week to go and want their best player.

Anthony has been a target since ETH came in.

We should have taken both for £100m at the start of the window. I’m sure we could have got the deal done and it would have given Ajax time to backfill.

instead we come in and look desperate
 
nah. We’re stupid.

We give them £50mil for Martinez, meaning they don’t need to make further player sales.

The way Ajax do business, £50mil covers their transfer activity for years.

Then we come back with a week to go and want their best player.

Anthony has been a target since ETH came in.

We should have taken both for £100m at the start of the window. I’m sure we could have got the deal done and it would have given Ajax time to backfill.

instead we come in and look desperate
Yeah, that's not how it works.
 
My english isn't the best, in 'cancel' I meant more like 'terminate' it. I know they get paid, and not on the cheap, but they feel like it's better value for their club to keep him.
So as you said, contract protects both sides, so I don't really see why Antony thinks it's his right to demand the transfer.
But then, we haven't seen the contract and don't know about the agreements in place and what promises Ajax made to him.
Antony does have the right to demand the transfer and Ajax has the right to refuse it. I mean no offense but you don't really seem to understand how transfers and contracts work in football mate.
 
Wow that interview with Romano is nuclear. What a mess. I'd imagine for Antony to go public like this, United must have advised his camp to rock the boat with assurances that we'll pay whatever it takes to get him.

I honestly doubt that. My impression is that Murtough and them are on that 'classy' schtick most Caftards are on, and are 'above' the Real Madrid and Barcelona dark arts of the transfer market.
 
I can see which of you would make horrendous bosses..

To some people your word is everything. It was a two year project according to Antony and he told them in February he would now like to leave.

United honoured their word to Ronaldo and let him go to Madrid.
so ajax has known since February of his intent and reinforced that at the beginning of the summer that he wanted to leave and wouldn't sign any sort of extension.....Ajax trying to play hard ball to get as much out of the deal as possible so they've screwed over the player fully knowing his intentions. That's just not fair business to the player who's done his job over the years and gave them PLENTY of time to work out a transfer plan for his replacement.
They aren’t obliged. However, the reason players like Martinez and Antony go to Ajax is for a route into Europe - develop in a semi-decent league, win trophies, play CL and then move on after showcasing themselves. That’s the dream that’s sold. Ajax get great young talent, win things and make hundreds of millions. You start forcing players who have now outgrown that league to stay hindering their development and turning down record fees then if I’m an agent I’m thinking twice before sending anyone to Ajax.
He said he joined them on the understanding it was for 2 years and then followed through by informing them he still was sticking with that so...
very entitled. If you planned to be there 2 years why sign a 5-year contract? Did Harry Kane get his move? nope and just got on with it. United fans hella entitled right now. Antony can make all the claims he wants but these are just his claims. He is just a mere employee

You ever worked? Ever had someone dump work on you just before clocking off? Ever have someone break a promise to you?

Sure, there's no contractual agreement but it would piss one off easily.

This stoic philosophy of "he has a contract" is bizarre considering the emotions of humans and the short shelf life of footballers.
None of these are comparable. He is a sports employee paid MILLIONS to do the job he loves so does the clubs needs not also matter? how much time do they even have to find a replacement? He has only fulfilled 2 of a 5 year contract. It is insane to assume he has the right to just up and leave because United fans want him. He does not make decisions for Ajax as they are bigger than him
 
There's also a difference between saying Ajax are stupid to reject that amount of money and saying they acted shady, scummy or broke promises. The first thing is a clear yes for me, but there's nothing shady about insisting on your right to being stupid
 
So he’s been asking to leave for six months and Ajax have refused to sell despite these offers? They’ve somewhat overplayed their hand.
 
Blaming Ajax is silly. Our ire should be directed at our useless DoF and CEO. How come it's our club at the centre of these sagas? Boring.
Because we get treated differently. They sold Haller to Dortmund for 30m and waved him off nicely.

If we came in for him you know it would be 70m and a constant battle. They see us as a goldmine that they can rinse for every penny.
 
Blaming Ajax is silly. Our ire should be directed at our useless DoF and CEO. How come it's our club at the centre of these sagas? Boring.

Adnan won't like that. Murtough hired data analysts, sports scientists and elite tea lady executives with a speciality in tea making.
 
I don't even follow football anywhere near as much as most do on here but off the top of my head: Rooney, Ronaldo, Modric, Kane, Mbappe,Zaha, Suarez, Gerrard, Vieira, Van der Vaart, Alves, Ribery, Tevez?

I'm sure there are infinite more examples.

Some of you (same with football fans / transfer muppets worldwide in fairness) are being incredibly entitled.

Yep.

The 5 year contract is protection for Ajax also. There’s no way they would have agreed to a two year contract because they know they’d get nothing at the end of the agreed term when the player walks out on a free transfer. The contract term is both protection for the club and the player.

If they’ve made a verbal commitment to Antony since February that they would allow him to move this window and they’ve received multiple reasonable bids that have matched (or in this case clearly exceeded) his market value, then its Ajax that comes out looking worse.

How would you feel if he was shit and Ajax stopped paying him after two years? I'd be livid and so would the FDJ advocates on these boards.


A contract is a contract.
 
You can say that about Martinez, yet while we may have overpaid the optics just look like a club who wanted a player and went out to get him. We've had an interest in Antony but haven't showed we are really serious until now.

Ajax will want to squeeze as much money out of us but by us coming so late with no replacement lined up it only points to them being even more stubborn given they know how desperate we are.

Do you really think we have approached this transfer well? To me it looks like we baulked at the price earlier in the transfer window, had a horrible start to the season and have come back with more intent than ever.
I’m not sure how we approached it. If we are told by the player that there’s an agreement in place for a move then why wouldn’t we believe him? We did come in with a big bid about three weeks ago when we met Ajax’s absurd price, they set another one which we met and it looks as if we are about to bid higher again. It’s hard to blame Utd when we met their price with a month left of the window, us sitting here with a week left is on Ajax who keeps turning down fees that they demanded. I feel bad for Ajax but one of the reason they’ve lost so many players is they fecked up two of their brightest prospects by keeping them with one year left and knowing they’d go on a free this summer. Just because they mishandled that doesn’t mean other players who apparently had agreements in place have to pause their careers. B all accounts they knew Antony wanted to leave, desperate even since February. To play that off like oh this caught us by surprise with a week left is absurd.
 
We have a bunch of incompetent fecks running our transfer business. Utter imbeciles - we could have had Antony integrated into our pre season and then following on from that our team, weeks ago for the fraction of the fee but village idiot Murtough has dicked around doing literally nothing and now this happens.

Murtough needs to take a long walk off a short cliff (hopefully the Grand Canyon)
 
Meh, it's disappointing from our perspective, but fair play to Ajax for not bending over to player demands. If they've thought this through and are fine with walking away from such fee then fair enough.
 
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