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

Status
Not open for further replies.
Mr PG said:
Antony gives the ball away quite a bit and he's not strong enough. Ralf aptly pointed out our teams biggest weakness is we lack strong /athletic players. Explains why
united hasn't played well a full 90mins for the last 2 seasons. It's always a terrible first 45 while the opponent tires or a terrible second half as we run out of gas.
Click to expand...

It depends on the system and what type of tactics is going to be used. Ralf was looking at the gegenpressing system which requires high stamina and strength for the players. Obviously the players do require a high fitness level but it does not need to be the gegenpressing type.

As for ETH, what he probably expects from the players is their work rate in tracking back to defend and covering their spaces so that they are compact during the opponent's attack. With the right formation, he can reduce the need for the attacking players to constantly run up and down the field. Anthony is still a good fit based on that. However I am not sure if we are really interested in Anthony and we already have ample attacking wingers.
 
Conor said:
He looks really good, but it also seems like Raphinha is just a PL proven version of him, available for a similar price.
Click to expand...
MUFC OK said:
For £50m I'd much rather go with the proven option.
Click to expand...
If you had seen enough of Raphinha, you would know that he has many flaws in his game which doesn’t justify the £50m price tag of him either. He is wildly inconsistent, bad in possession and no room for improvement as he would be 26 this year and is already a finished product. He will give you moments sure but he is still so unpolished.

Antony just turned 22 this February, 3-4 yrs younger than Raphinha. He is still developing and has a level or 2 to hit yet. Raphinha’s development is done yet it leaves so much to be desired. The only thing Raphinha has over Antony is physicality and that may prove to be difficult in the beginning for Antony but I’m sure he would cope.

I like Raphinha too but if we can get one I think Antony would be a better option. Now, I’m not saying Antony would be world class but I think he would be good, plus as I said he has some levels to go and that’s seals it for me.
 
Bojan Djordjic said:
I'd prefer the Champions League proven option who plays ahead of Raphinha for Brazil and costs less.
Click to expand...

Is that technically true?? If I do my Google’s and you’re wrong can you get a 48 hour time out?

So they both made their debut at the same time. Both have the same number or caps with Raphinha scoring 1 goal more. So was pretty much a very bold statement.
 
Last edited:
MUFC OK said:
Antony actually only played 21/34 league games last season, was he injured for a period?
Click to expand...
From what i read he was injured/unfit and mostly played from the bench in the first half of the season before cementing his place in the side as the season went on.
 
OpenIntrovert said:
It depends on the system and what type of tactics is going to be used. Ralf was looking at the gegenpressing system which requires high stamina and strength for the players. Obviously the players do require a high fitness level but it does not need to be the gegenpressing type.

As for ETH, what he probably expects from the players is their work rate in tracking back to defend and covering their spaces so that they are compact during the opponent's attack. With the right formation, he can reduce the need for the attacking players to constantly run up and down the field. Anthony is still a good fit based on that. However I am not sure if we are really interested in Anthony and we already have ample attacking wingers.
Click to expand...
You can say that for any other position bar DM
 
He feels like an exciting player, a Nani type player, where you're never sure what he's going to do. I think we've missed that, particularly in the last year
 
Yakuza_devils said:
How is our records signing South American players?
Click to expand...
Very good point, perhaps unintentionally.

Maybe it's time to stop fearing the past and finally change the tide and make good choices there. Btw, if Tevez stayed at United he could be still key player for long years.
 
He's a much more complete footballer than any of our other wingers. He's got flair, pace, football intelligence, works hard defensively and got a decent cross on him. Most of our wingers over these last ten years been lacking big time in some of these areas. Just need a new RB and we'll look so much better down the right.
 
Mr PG said:
Antony gives the ball away quite a bit and he's not strong enough
Click to expand...
And yet all the stats show you are wrong, his big strength is that he does retain possession well, and manages to get the ball back in defense. So you know there is that.

Funny thing is we have lots of wingers but none that trackback like Antony does, and neither Sancho nor Rashford are particularly strong in possession. 40m does seem a lot, I think whats interesting is when you look at Haller for 31m, that actually sounds about right. If you watched lots of games you can see how average Haller is, and he is definitely benefiting from a tier 2 league defense, as it happens I think Dortmund will suit him well as the German leagues also seem to have weaker defenses. Antony's stats are low, but watching quite a number of games I think he could improve that with the right midfielders and strikers with him.
 
Redcy said:
And yet all the stats show you are wrong, his big strength is that he does retain possession well, and manages to get the ball back in defense. So you know there is that.

Funny thing is we have lots of wingers but none that trackback like Antony does, and neither Sancho nor Rashford are particularly strong in possession. 40m does seem a lot, I think whats interesting is when you look at Haller for 31m, that actually sounds about right. If you watched lots of games you can see how average Haller is, and he is definitely benefiting from a tier 2 league defense, as it happens I think Dortmund will suit him well as the German leagues also seem to have weaker defenses. Antony's stats are low, but watching quite a number of games I think he could improve that with the right midfielders and strikers with him.
Click to expand...
We just paid £73m for Sancho on ridiculous wages. I don’t see how Antony is such a downgrade on Sancho. If anything I think Antony will suit us better.
 
JJ12 said:
He has so much talent but appears to miss that killer instinct. Ronaldo - although younger and much more talented - was like that at first so we know that things can evolve in that regard. ETH probably feels that he can still improve there.
[/QUOTE

Yeah I feel he can improve and pretty sure that Erik thinks he is able to do that too
Click to expand...
 
STYLOISRED said:
From what i read he was injured/unfit and mostly played from the bench in the first half of the season before cementing his place in the side as the season went on.
Click to expand...
He was a starter in the first part of the season as well, but Ten Hag was rotating much more because Ajax still had Neres and of course Ten Hag didn't want Antony to wear out in the first part of the season. So he was subbed off most matches and sometimes not in the starting eleven. That was not about his quality though.
 
Tommy79 said:
Oh, if life was just so simple like that. As just because they have proven themselves at one club does not mean they will thrive here, as just a couple of my head, Torres, wow at the numbers hit for Liverpool, damn who's this guy after he went to Chelsea and Robbie keane was also a failure there unlike at Spurs and the best cases of us I can think of, Gary Birtles back to back EC/CL winner and regular goalscorer at Forrest, utter failure here and for the younger fans, we all remember Sanchez's numbers at Arsenal and what he didn't do here, or even Mata to a degree compared to what we saw him do at Chelsea.
Click to expand...
Torres and Sanchez were both finished by the time they joined Chelsea/United. I wasn't around to see Gary Birtles. There's also the likes of Mane, Mahrez who were PL proven. Sir Alex frequently signed the best players from other PL teams, think Yorke for example.

It's a bit of a toss up between Raphinha and Antony for me, I'm just keen that we don't massively overpay when other clubs can acquire Ajax's best assets with relative ease and for reasonable fees. A £50m gamble is not what we need right now.
 
Posh Red said:
Ten Hag seems keen. I think he may have seen some full matches.
Click to expand...
Of course and we clearly need to back the manager primarily, but what ETH cant possible know yet is what it takes for a player to succeed in the PL.
 
Van Piorsing said:
Very good point, perhaps unintentionally.

Maybe it's time to stop fearing the past and finally change the tide and make good choices there. Btw, if Tevez stayed at United he could be still key player for long years.
Click to expand...

this signing would be vastly different simply b/c the manager knows the player and hte player knows the system and style of play
 
MUFC OK said:
Of course and we clearly need to back the manager primarily, but what ETH cant possible know yet is what it takes for a player to succeed in the PL.
Click to expand...
The PL proven line is one of the most annoying cliches thrown about by English football fans and English pundits
 
AndySmith1990 said:
The PL proven line is one of the most annoying cliches thrown about by English football fans and English pundits
Click to expand...
In our case, it's probably not the worst thing to bring in players who should be more adapted to the league. Do we really want to spend £50-60m on someone like Antony only to be saying this time next year that hopefully his second season is much better as he needed to adapt to the league?
 
bosskeano said:
this signing would be vastly different simply b/c the manager knows the player and hte player knows the system and style of play
Click to expand...
Won't deny, system manager having in disposal two system players like Sancho & Antony as attackers makes me a happy camper.
 
Van Piorsing said:
Won't deny, system manager having in disposal two system players like Sancho & Antony as attackers makes me a happy camper.
Click to expand...
Both like to cut inside, good job we've got world class attacking fullbacks to provide the width.
 
MUFC OK said:
In our case, it's probably not the worst thing to bring in players who should be more adapted to the league. Do we really want to spend £50-60m on someone like Antony only to be saying this time next year that hopefully his second season is much better as he needed to adapt to the league?
Click to expand...
Pl proven is a huge BS. Our last 3 PL proven players bought were Maguire, AWB and Alexis. All 3 were bad/awful signings
 
MUFC OK said:
Both like to cut inside, good job we've got world class attacking fullbacks to provide the width.
Click to expand...
Hmmm... this will require some intensive work in the training grounds.

Wondering what Ten Hag's judgement will be after pre-season on that department.
 
MUFC OK said:
In our case, it's probably not the worst thing to bring in players who should be more adapted to the league. Do we really want to spend £50-60m on someone like Antony only to be saying this time next year that hopefully his second season is much better as he needed to adapt to the league?
Click to expand...
You could see it that way or you see it from the point of view that he already knows the managers demand.
 
MUFC OK said:
Both like to cut inside, good job we've got world class attacking fullbacks to provide the width.
Click to expand...

If we don’t want them to cut inside then play a left-footer on the left-wing and a right-footer on the right. With the proposed inversion, that will always happen.
 
If true, given his talent and potential, then this signing would fall under absolutely perfect for what I hoped we'd achieve this summer. Everything we want: determination to play for us, talent, potential to improve, decent fee. It would be incredibly frustrating if we don't get this deal done. He even plays for a club that, right now, we probably have the best relationship with out of any club in the world.
 
MUFC OK said:
In our case, it's probably not the worst thing to bring in players who should be more adapted to the league. Do we really want to spend £50-60m on someone like Antony only to be saying this time next year that hopefully his second season is much better as he needed to adapt to the league?
Click to expand...

We signed players like AWB, Lukaku, Matic, Sanchez, Schneiderlin, Fellaini, Mata. All were PL proven but they weren't good enough for the money and wages they were paid.

PL proven is nothing, big thing is how good our set up is and how good the team is to compliment each other.
 
Strootman's Finger said:
I won't, because he wasn't. The club was, the players were... you can't blame Ralf for their shortcomings.
Click to expand...

There normally is a correlation with crap managers and crap results.

But I get all your points. I suppose two things can be true at the same time.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.