United turned down 17-goal La Liga genius for Antony, would have been £30m cheaper – The Athletic

Manchester United chose to sign Antony over Barcelona’s Raphinha in the summer of 2022.

The Red Devils currently find themselves in 14th place in the Premier League and with a transfer debt of £317.8million.

The club has spent lavishly over the last few years with little to show for such investment.

Former manager Erik ten Hag has often been blamed for poor recruitment as he spent over £600 million in three summer windows.

Probably the poster boy of the club’s poor spending is Antony, who at an eye-watering £86 million, is the second most expensive player in United’s history after Paul Pogba.

To make matters worse, The Athletic report that United’s scouts actually backed Ten Hag in preferring the former Ajax star to the Premier League-proven Raphinha.

“Ten Hag wanted Antony at the end of a pressurised summer 2022 window,” the outlet reports, “but the club’s scouting department also backed going for the Brazilian over the other option of Raphinha, who moved from Leeds United to Barcelona that summer for £55m.”

Ironically, current United boss Ruben Amorim is said to be interested in signing Raphinha again as they have had very different impacts at their new clubs.

Antony has become a rarely used sub who has only scored 12 goals in 93 appearances for the Old Trafford side.

Raphinha on the other hand has been electric for FC Barcelona and has come to life under Hansi Flick at the Catalan side.

He has scored 17 goals and provided 10 assists in 25 matches this season, making him one of the most feared attackers in global football.

To compound United’s misery, they essentially could have signed a much better player for £30 million less.

These are the types of errors that Ineos and United cannot afford to make in the future with the PSR financial pressures they face.

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