With Manchester United likely to have to splash the cash once again when the summer transfer window rolls around, Old Trafford flop Antony has seemingly led a telling example
Manchester United failure Antony has seemingly proven that the Premier League is the best league in the world – and one of the most difficult to adjust to for players from abroad.
Having impressed under then-Red Devils boss Erik ten Hag at Ajax, winger Antony was brought to Old Trafford in the summer of 2022 for an eye-watering £86million. With an astronomical price tag to live up to, the Brazilian found life in the English top-flight arduous.
A tally of just 12 goals and five assists in almost 100 games for United saw him loaned out to Real Betis by the man who succeeded Ten Hag, Ruben Amorim, where Antony has started life relatively well.
In doing so, ex-Premier League striker Clinton Morrison feels the 25-year-old has effectively sent a warning to any players who could make the switch to Old Trafford with his failed move and dwindling English toils.
“A player like Antony, he came in – nowhere near good enough,” Morrison admitted, speaking to Freebets.com. “I know he’s gone to Real Betis and doing ever so well in Real Betis. So, that just goes to show me the Premier League is the best league in world football. It’s the hardest one to adjust to.”
Despite a controversial sending off in his last La Liga outing, Antony has begun his spell in Spain with two league goals and a pair of assists in just four matches. Morrison believes this not only proves how difficult it is to thrive in the Premier League compared to other divisions but also just how dire United’s recruitment has been in recent years.
“Recruitment has to be better,” he continued. “I’m not in that football club. So, I don’t know what goes on in that football club. But I do think that recruitment has been nowhere near good enough at Man United. And that is why they’re struggling.
“It just doesn’t look good where they are in the league. We’re talking about Man United Football Club, one of the biggest, if not the biggest, team in world football.
“It’s going to take two or three transfer windows until Ruben Amorim can get the players, and people can buy into how he wants to play. So it’s going to be a struggle for Man United fans. And I think they accept that.”
The Red Devils sit toiling in 15th spot in the Premier League. Morrison also fears this is partly because the club’s current cohort is not adapted to Amorim’s system – and any new recruits that head to the world’s best top flight must be well-suited.
“Coming in and changing his style so quickly, the players that haven’t adjusted,” Morrison concluded. “He loves his 3-4-3 – which some of the players I’m looking at can’t play. They don’t have wing-backs that can go and do the job that his wing-backs were doing at Sporting Lisbon.
“They don’t have the two centre midfielders that can cover the ground, and they don’t have a centre forward like Viktor Gyokeres and what he was doing at Sporting Lisbon. There’s a whole lot of things.”