Antony moved to Old Trafford in the summer of 2022 in a blockbuster deal that was driven out of desperation towards the end of the transfer window.Man United were eventually persuaded to overpay for the attacker, who has contributed just eight goals and three assists for his hefty fee – with none coming this season.
It’s a trade that might have been brushed off as poor luck if Manchester United didn’t have a reputation of making the same mistakes over and over again, and shocking evidence in The Athletic indicates that they went into the Antony scenario with their eyes open.
“United’s scouts had made reports that left staff valuing Antony at around £25 million under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s management.” “Midway through the summer of 2022, United terminated talks with Ajax and privately communicated that they would not pay more than £60 million,” the report says.
“In the last days of the transfer window, with urgency around Old Trafford intensified and Erik Hag pushing for additional forces, United agreed a fee of £86m (€95m guaranteed plus €5m extras).”
The Antony deal underlines Man United’s transfer market woes, which are created by a bad system that requires agreements to go through many parties before they are agreed upon.
“Ultimately, the system fails because, at critical junctures, United can decide to overpay for a player and blow their budget.” According to sources, “there is nobody at the club skilled at assessing a player’s worth who also has spending authority and can take a holistic view of squad building.”
Antony is the most visible example of this in action, with hardly one at Manchester United evidently persuaded that he was worth his €100 million transfer cost – a truth that is now being played out for everyone to see on the field.
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