Former Man Utd boss Erik ten Hag was ignored by the Red Devils hierarchy as he attempted to stop them buying Antony, according to his agent.
The Red Devils had a terrible season in the Premier League in 2024/25 with Ten Hag sacked at the end of October and replaced by Ruben Amorim in November.
Man Utd were arguably even worse under Amorim with the current squad struggling to get to grips with his style of play, tactics and philosophy.
Ten Hag had a reputation of bringing in players from the Netherlands at Man Utd or players who had links to Eredivisie side Ajax, who he managed before the Red Devils.
The former Man Utd boss signed Andre Onana, Matthijs De Ligt, Lisandro Martinez, Antony and Noussair Mazraoui, who all played for him at Ajax.
Netherlands internationals Joshua Zirkzee and Tyrell Malacia were also signed by Ten Hag and there were rumours throughout his tenure that he wanted to sign another compatriot in the form of Barcelona midfielder Frenkie de Jong.
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Antony was thought to be a signing that Ten Hag insisted on bringing to Man Utd with the Brazilian moving to the Red Devils for £85m in the 2022 summer transfer window.
The Brazil international made just 38 Premier League starts over two-and-a-half seasons before the Red Devils allowed him to go on loan to Real Betis in the second half of the last campaign.
Antony recovered his form while on loan in Spain with nine goals and two assists in 26 appearances in all competitions for Real Betis.
Man Utd are now attempting to offload him this summer with the Red Devils asking clubs for around €50m (£42m) as they look to recoup around half the fee they paid.
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But now Kees Vos, the co-founder of the manager’s agency, insists that Ten Hag was not to blame for the disastrous Antony transfer as it was Man Utd who forced it through amid interest from Arsenal.
Vos said of the Antony transfer in a new book ‘Liverpool and the Dutch’: “Ten Hag and Vos were not in favour of this and wanted to stop the transfer.
“But the club wanted to push through at all costs, because Arsenal was also interested in Antony.
“The risk of a stronger competitor would be great. Ultimately, Manchester United paid almost 100 million euros for Antony.
“Although Ten Hag did not support this transfer, it stuck with him throughout his entire time in Manchester that he took over the attacker from Ajax for this ill-fated amount, who was never able to fulfil his promise.”
