Manchester United’s hopes of a bidding war for on-loan winger Antony have been boosted by reported interest from Atletico Madrid.
Having missed out on an estimated £100m after defeat in the Europa League final left them without Champions League football next season, United will have to wring every last penny from summer sales.
It’s not an area in which the club have usually excelled, but if any loanee is doing his bit to bump up his price tag it is Antony.
Since moving to Real Betis on loan in the winter transfer window the forward has been a sensation, bagging eight goals and five assists in 24 matches in all competitions.
He is sure to feature in the Europa Conference League final against Chelsea, and should he contribute to winning the club only their third trophy of the century he will go down as even more of a cult hero than he already is.
Betis are desperate to keep hold of the player who has captured their fans’ imaginations, but his form has inevitably attracted other admirers – some of whom have considerably bigger budgets.
As per The Independent, Atletico Madrid are interested in signing Antony after what they dub his “revelatory” performances in Spain.
The report notes that his value has “sky-rocketed where there was barely a market for him six months ago”, although offer no figures to support this claim.
United will be desperate for this to be true, and will be hopeful that there is enough interest in the player to “generate an auction” for him. Villarreal are also reportedly willing to fight for the forward.
This isn’t the first time Atletico’s name has been mentioned in relation to the Brazilian, with questionable reports emerging in Spain earlier this month suggesting they had already made a €40m offer for his services.
It’s the kind of money INEOS will be dreaming of as they look to finance a huge squad overhaul for Ruben Amorim.
Certainly Antony looks like finally becoming a marketable asset, with the spectre of another loan seeming less likely given his continued run of remarkable form.
Featured image Octavio Passos via Getty Images
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Joe Ponting
Joe has spent more than half his life writing about football and all of it following United. As a child he told a doctor his name was ‘Paul Scholes’, but could never pick a pass like him no matter how much he tried.
