Real Betis have reportedly submitted an improved offer to sign Manchester United winger Antony after making the Brazilian their “priority target” in the winter window.
Miguel Moran (Marca) reveals negotiations between the Spanish side and the Red Devils began “at the end of December” over a potential loan move for Antony in January.
The 24-year-old winger has struggled since arriving at Old Trafford in 2022 following his £86 million move from Ajax, despite linking up in Manchester with his former manager Erik ten Hag.
The Brazilian international lacks the physicality to impose himself on games in English football. And while he possesses good acceleration, his top end speed is not a stand out within the Premier League the way it was in the Eredivisie.
Antony’s confidence has been sorely dented as a result of these struggles and he is entirely ineffective whenever he does feature in a Red shirt, despite some promising performances in his debut season. The 24-year-old has played under new head coach Ruben Amorim in both the right wing-back position and the right attacking midfielder slot without impressing in either.
Antony’s work rate and tenacity off the ball had given some hope he may be able to repay the faith the club demonstrated in him with his exorbitant transfer fee under Amorim – a manager famed for his demands of pressing and tracking back – but this has, unsurprisingly, not materialised.
United are open to Antony’s departure this month with acceptance amongst the club’s executive branch that a loan move is the only realistic option for a player on big wages and low confidence.
During negotiations with Real Betis, Old Trafford officials made it clear the requirements any deal would have to meet to be accepted after the Spanish club’s initial offer was rejected.
And Moran reveals these fresh negotiations have “come considerably closer in a second amount” with the Andalusian club “raising the amounts” involved in the deal. The report contends Real Betis are “speeding up their efforts” to sign Antony with other Liga clubs believed to be interested in the 24-year-old’s services.
Betis’ offer is a straight loan until the end of the season with the Red Devils taking on a “large part of his outstanding salary” – a reality United officials were acutely aware of entering into the January window.
Antony has almost certainly no long-term future at Old Trafford with his skillset unwholly suited to the rigours of English football.
Spain, with a slower pace and a greater focus on technique over physicality, would be a suitable environment for the Brazilian to try and regain some of the form which led the Reds to extract him from Amsterdam in the first place.
Feature image Paul Ellis via Getty Images
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Darragh Fox
Darragh is a writer for The Peoples Person who spent three years as a history graduate slowly realising football was by far the most interesting thing to write about.
