Antony’s agent has hit back at Ruben Amorim after the Manchester United head coach revealed one reason for his struggles at Old Trafford.
The Red Devils paid around £86m to sign Antony from Dutch giants Ajax during the 2022 summer transfer window, which contributes to them being second in our Premier League net spend table
Erik ten Hag made Antony his priority target ahead of his first season at Man Utd, and they massively overpaid to sign the Brazil international.
Antony struggled to adapt to life at Man Utd and fell in the pecking order ahead of this season. He failed to make a single Premier League start in 2024/25 before he joined Real Betis on loan in January.
The 25-year-old has been a revelation at Real Betis, contributing three goals and two assists in his seven appearances across all competitions.
When asked why Antony is thriving at Real Betis after failing at Man Utd, Amorim claimed “physicality” was the main reason for his woes.
“When you play against any team in England, the physicality is there. If you don’t have physicality, you will struggle a lot,” Amorim claimed.
READ: Manchester United, Amorim, Arsenal and West Ham feature heavily in ten biggest cock-ups this season
“Antony is so much better now in Spain. It’s [because of] a lot of factors but I guarantee you it’s physicality.”
Now, Antony’s agent – Junior Pedroso – has hit out at Amorim’s “very superficial argument” and revealed the “truth” on his struggle at Man Utd.
“We respect the opinion of coach Ruben Amorim, but we completely disagree with his analysis. To attribute Antony’s lack of success at Manchester United solely to the question of physicality is a very superficial argument and does not reflect reality,” Pedroso said.
“The truth is that Antony has not had enough prominence or the confidence necessary to play his best football. Of the 15 games in which Amorim managed Manchester United, he only used Antony in nine, with a total of 252 minutes played.
“This represents only 18.6% of the total possible minutes (1,350 minutes). How can you judge an athlete without a minimum sequence to prove his worth?”
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Pedroso continued: “The manager’s statement, although perhaps it was not his intention, ends up devaluing La Liga and the Spanish competitions.
“Spanish football has one of the most competitive leagues in the world, with top-level teams that constantly compete in the final stages of the Champions League and the Europa League.
“The reality is that Antony, since he arrived at Real Betis, has become one of the best players in the team and in the competition itself, demonstrating his full potential when given the right conditions to develop his game.
“This highlights that the problem was not the physicality, but the context and the way he was managed in Manchester.
“Many players who do not prosper at United find success at other clubs, which leads us to wonder if the problem really lies with the players.”
