The damning, final truth of Antony’s Manchester United nightmare
The damning, final truth of Antony’s Manchester United nightmare
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Pound for pound the worst signing in English football history, Manchester United will continue to count the cost of their most expensive mistake. Ruben Amorim was discussing a forward he doesn’t pick. He would, he said on Sunday, be willing to put his 63-year-old goalkeeping coach on the bench ahead of him if he didn’t give the maximum in training. It wasn’t Antony; Marcus Rashford was the man damned by comparison with Jorge Vital. Although a spot on the bench has already opened up. The temptation is to suggest the veteran Vital would be of similar use to Antony as a substitute.
![[Manchester United will continue to feel the cost of Antony’s expensive price tag]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/27/14/29/GettyImages-2190796304.jpeg)
It was one illustration of the crushing failure of the second most expensive signing in United’s history that, out of sight, already out of mind, he went unmentioned at Craven Cottage. Antony had already become part afterthought, part joke. The initial sense was that United had done well to get Real Betis to pay 84 per cent of his wages to borrow him for the rest of the season; but no loan fee, no return on his ridiculous £85m transfer fee. The likelihood may be that Antony leaves on free transfer, perhaps when his contract ends in 2027, maybe after being loaned out again. Few have any reason to buy him when they have proof United will let him leave without bringing any money in.
![[Ten Hag put faith in Antony but Amorim found tactical issues with the winger]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/27/14/19/GettyImages-1835781865.jpeg)
He goes as, pound for pound, the worst buy any English club has made, his €100m price rendering him an incongruous presence alongside Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and Harry Kane in the list of the all-time costliest transfers. Only a minority of the top 25 have justified their fees but even in that context, Antony is an anomaly, an average player somehow elevated to such heights.
