I think it's not so much the squad l, I think it's the fact that he's absolutely atrociously terrible at football.
Antony (out) | LOAN to Real Betis
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) and Imran (@Annihilate Now!) are here to discuss Amad saving our blushes in a win against Southampton as well as our now annual loss at home to Brighton. They discuss Amorim's post-match comments, revisit how mid-table we may or may not be, and discuss some transfer news.
There is a player in there but he just isn’t an athlete and I can’t fathom why any club would pay such a high fee for a player who isn’t fast or strong or has only one foot.
I think it’s best to get him out even at a loss, as it sends the right message that we will not accept lower performance levels or standards any longer.
I think it’s best to get him out even at a loss, as it sends the right message that we will not accept lower performance levels or standards any longer.
If that mind boggling miss is to be his last meaningful act for us....well, it seems perfect, doesn't it? It's how I want to remember him.
It's was reported today/yesterday Amorim approved the deal only after being assured we're getting a wingback this month so let's see.
He will do good in a slower paced league.
Looking like it's up there as one of the worst yes.
Sanchez was the worst in our history for me though - absolute carnage.
Grealish is a shocker too
The way Anthony has worked out is a reminder that football is a very cruel game and that throwing money at players is not the answer.
I like Anthony in truth, he seems to have that bite about him, he seems to want to work hard and apply himself. He was a great player at Ajax, lets not forget. He was skilful, determined, exciting.
It's just not worked out for him here. The step up was too much for him, the demands of being at this club as a forward player are sky high. He's just never settled, never got going. We've not seen anywhere near the best of him and in the space of 2 years Anthony has gone from being an exciting winger to a joke figure.
It's always a gamble throwing 80+million at a player and sky high wages, but that was our way under the previous regime. With that level of gamble though your either going to nail it and have a superstar or look incredibly stupid and foolish. Of course we bottomed out, probably the most damning assessment under Woodward/Murtugh is the Anthony transfer.
The worst thing is, Anthony isn't the only failed transfer we need to cut our losses on. The squad is just rotten and full of players who lack the personality, desire and mentality to play for this club.
Lots on here speculating whether he will be a success in another league - I think he could well be. There's a good player in Anthony, just needs to find his confidence and regular game time. He'll be a decent mid-level winger for sure. Pellistri has looked good in spells over in Spain so it can be done as long as he works at it. He has to realise he isn't ever going to be the superstar he was hailed as. Know your place, work hard and good things may happen
I like Anthony in truth, he seems to have that bite about him, he seems to want to work hard and apply himself. He was a great player at Ajax, lets not forget. He was skilful, determined, exciting.
It's just not worked out for him here. The step up was too much for him, the demands of being at this club as a forward player are sky high. He's just never settled, never got going. We've not seen anywhere near the best of him and in the space of 2 years Anthony has gone from being an exciting winger to a joke figure.
It's always a gamble throwing 80+million at a player and sky high wages, but that was our way under the previous regime. With that level of gamble though your either going to nail it and have a superstar or look incredibly stupid and foolish. Of course we bottomed out, probably the most damning assessment under Woodward/Murtugh is the Anthony transfer.
The worst thing is, Anthony isn't the only failed transfer we need to cut our losses on. The squad is just rotten and full of players who lack the personality, desire and mentality to play for this club.
Lots on here speculating whether he will be a success in another league - I think he could well be. There's a good player in Anthony, just needs to find his confidence and regular game time. He'll be a decent mid-level winger for sure. Pellistri has looked good in spells over in Spain so it can be done as long as he works at it. He has to realise he isn't ever going to be the superstar he was hailed as. Know your place, work hard and good things may happen
Sanchez was a free transfer, or a swap at best, not an £75m+ purchase from a smaller league who proved to not even be PL standard.
He wasn’t a great player at Ajax. His stats even in Dutch football playing for the dominant team were very average.
Sanchez paved the way for the wage hell that we found ourselves in though. Something we've been feeling the effects of long after his departure
He was highly regarded as one of the most exciting wingers at the time. We bought potential, not the finished article.
We got it wrong clearly but at the time going for Anthony made a lot of sense. Not at the price or wages we eventually paid but the player was the right kind of fit at the time.
This is a lesson we never seem to learn.
If you throw stupid money, throw them at PL proven star. Give 100 mil for Rice, for Pedro, for Semenyo, Cunha...
Not for winger from dutch league.
If you throw stupid money, throw them at PL proven star. Give 100 mil for Rice, for Pedro, for Semenyo, Cunha...
Not for winger from dutch league.
Antony out, nothing to discuss. Worst signing since ever.
Hope he stays out of ”problems” in Seville. That would make this whole story even more farcical.
Hope he stays out of ”problems” in Seville. That would make this whole story even more farcical.
100m on Semenyo or Cunha???
His stats were poor in the dominant team in dutch football. This transfer was madness, and give the guy 200k a week even more dumb.
No sane club would have done that.
The transfer fee to Ajax and the reported wages paid is obviously excessive and not worth what we paid - but in terms of player profile, age etc. it did make sense, He was a young, tricky winger that was breaking through the Brazilian NT and was hard working. Its a shame it didn’t work out, despite a promising start.
ETH signed him later in the window and probably should have been a better judge - but we’ve really seen him mess up with several signings - especially when comparing Antony to Kudus.
ETH signed him later in the window and probably should have been a better judge - but we’ve really seen him mess up with several signings - especially when comparing Antony to Kudus.
Odd suggestion
That’s true, but the hope with him by the higher ups - as clueless as they were - was that we were swooping in on a superstar having a rough time and that it was just a case of form that we could turnaround as opposed to people who are paid fortunes failing to assess Antony wasn’t even a PL-level player let alone someone you pay so much for in transfer fee and wage.
Superstars plummeting at least has a misguided logic to it, but missing the mark from the outset is a very worrying trend, one we’ve repeated multiple times (VDB and Højlund, to name a couple more).
It's probably about 60% of his wage. I presume the £200k is if we were in the CL, so without that he'll be on £150k a week. I'm not sure if teams pay the wages of loaned players until their season ends or all the way until the end of June, but I'm guessing it's the former.
If Betis only pay his wages until their season ends, that would be £2.7m so about €3.2m.
If they pay his wages until the end of June , that would be £3.45m so a touch over €4m.
There's a strong argument we made a worse transfer just 12 months earlier, in Sancho. Transfer fee was £10m less, but his wage is higher and he was even more pointless for us than Antony was. Antony at least had a semi-decent first season where he was useful. Sancho was much more highly rated so his transfer fee was more understandable, but once they were here Antony out-performed him.
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I had forgotten about him. Another terrible transfer
Why do you insist on making infactual statements.
22 g/a in 32 matches (2537 minutes)? A goal/assist per 115 minutes where is that average?
Even considering sub appearances etc, that is 2 goal contributions per every 3 matches, that's fine for a winger and far from average.
Amad (who's much better, and doing it in a better league ofcourse), has 16 g/a in 31 matches (1900) this season.
Context is ofcourse important, Antony played for the champions and Amad plays for a lower half side but his numbers at Ajax were fine. Especially considering he didn't take penalties or other set pieces.
I see this said quite often. Highly regarded by who? And what makes them correct?
He had 24 career goals to his name at 22. His assist record was just average. He was extremely one footed then as he is now.
You say potential was spotted but I reckon red flags should have been spotted.
Either way nobody can call him "great" at Ajax.
He got 8 league goals the season before we signed him. It's not terrible but if that's all he's getting in Dutch football for the dominant team you don't have to be Einstein to work out this guy is likely to struggle getting goals in the Prem.
Nah, Grealish was quite important for City the season they won the treble. He was disappointing the rest of the time, but that season puts him well above some of the other names.
100m on Cunha who got involved in 20+ premier league goals last season and is on course to better his tally this year is questionable, but for Antony is a deal?
Maybe not for Semenyo, but still my point is we spend money on wrong players.
Yeah he's obviously been crap but he has scored some important goals - debut win against Arsenal, Barcelona in the Europa and Liverpool in the FA Cup.
He played 23 matches to be fair, not sure if all were starts. 1 goal every 3 matches from your winger isn't great, but quite respectable. Antony is also not really a forward, had always played as a midfielder in Brazil, a wide midfielder. It was only at Ajax that he was made a winger/wide forward.
His initial period at United was quite surprising actually, he was scoring a few goals and getting into good positions a lot of the times. He lacked composure and missed a lot of chances. That side seems completely gone.. well not the composure.
No chance any of them are as bad as Anthony, especially considering we could have reportedly bought him for less earlier in the window.
Antony bas 9 goals and 8 assistes in 32 games in Edervise in 2020-2021 which is poor if you look at the gap between Ajax and the rest.
He never deserved that kind of fee and salary. Insane transfer.
Liverpool bought Salah for 30 millions while he was banging goals in a better league.
You skinned us to be fair. Such an average player for such a fee. Him plus Van de Beek. I’ll never want an Ajax player anymore.
All time is Hazard to Real Madrid.
He only got 9 the season before that playing 32 games.
Wide midfielder or winger it doesn’t really matter. Although he's probably play four times as many games as the latter.
There were numerous reasons not to sign him. Never mind paying £85million.
Why do you need to feel the need to take the season before? Seems like you have a clear agenda and even then, 17g/a in 32 matches is still not poor whatever way you want to put it.
If Salah or nothing is the reasoning you want to go buy, we can stop altogether. That was a great buy from Liverpool, and if they could do it again, they would. However the world hardly works like that right? They have had other good transfers in Gakpo and Diaz, but they were both more expensive than Salah but not as good. He's hardly the benchmark.
To me, 10 goals/10 assists is a (very) good output for a winger in a full season (about 38 games). There are wide forwards who do more than that and that's great.
He played with Berghuis, Tadic and Haller who also shared in the goalscoring load, his output really isn't the stick to beat him with even if there were other concerns.
Think he will do ok at Betis and I hope he does so we can get some sort of a fee and get rid for good at the end of the season.
The jury is still out on Amorim on the pitch but I like when he's doing off it. He's making brave decisions and not hanging around when it comes to underperforming players.
The jury is still out on Amorim on the pitch but I like when he's doing off it. He's making brave decisions and not hanging around when it comes to underperforming players.
Antony is sh*t, end off. Even the manager who bought him for that insane fee and was stubborn with his selection stopped to select him.
The season after he had 8 goals and 4 assists in an ultra dominant Ajax side.
This transfer was a disaster. We are paying 130 000 millions transfer and salary included for a guy who is doing feck all on the football pitch. Turn it every way you want, that was madness.
I remember looking at the stats when we were buying him and being litteraly affraid to pay that much for a guy who wasn’t the stand out player in that Ajax team.
Yes, it's very questionable. No club would pay that for Cunha (who hasn't even extended his contract and his club is in danger of getting relegated). 45m max.
And you don't get my point, I'm not justifying Antony's deal. I wouldn't have payed more than 15-20m on him since he wasn't even outstanding in Eredivisie.
Most positive thing about Antony is that I've just read his current wages, after lack of CL discount, are only "a shade over £100k a week" (Laurie Whitwell, Athletic)
Unless this is a typo, it is much less than the reported £200k a week
Taking any crumb on this waste of space currently..
Unless this is a typo, it is much less than the reported £200k a week
Taking any crumb on this waste of space currently..
And still Betis are paying only £50k per week for the loan.
No loan fee? Is the part of his salary that Betis will be covering really that significant for us?
Depends where and for what team. If he did that for United in the Premier League sure it'd be classed as good. But he didn't.
20/21 he got 9 goals and 8 assists
21/22 he got 8 goals and 4 assists
This in a team setting records for goalscoring in a weak league. I've only included league goals as I don't know the standard of the teams faced in cups.
It's not a case of beating him with a stick for his output. It's just those stats aren't that of a "great" player as was mentioned. Not in that league anyway for that team.
Those stats absolutely should have been a concern along with his other shortcomings.