- Antony arrived at Old Trafford from Ajax in 2022 for £86m but has disappointed
- He has not started a Premier League game this year but scored in the EFL Cup
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Simon Jordan has torn into Manchester United winger Antony in an incredible rant which saw him brand the side’s second most expensive player a ‘waste of money’.
The Brazilian arrived at Old Trafford from Ajax in 2022 to great fanfare but the honeymoon period did not last long.
Scoring just eight times in 45 matches in his opening season, the £86m man’s decision-making was regularly slammed by home fans – as the tricky forward notched just one more goal in the league after scoring in his first three games.
Things went from bad to worse in a second campaign which saw Antony find the net only three times in 38 matches as United slumped to a calamitous eighth-place finish.
And after playing just a couple of minutes in the league this term, Jordan made his opinions on the 24-year-old clear to TalkSport listeners.
Simon Jordan has torn into Manchester United winger Antony in an incredible rant
He said: ‘He’s brought nothing. What has he brought to Manchester United beside headlines?’
Antony is coming off the back of his best performance of the season, scoring against Barnsley
‘Of course there is a pressure and of course there is an expectation because if you spend big money on players, naturally you expect big outcomes,’ he said.
‘If a £25m footballer doesn’t succeed there’s less noise around it.
‘In this instance, with Antony, at £25m he would have been a bad buy because he’s been poor and everything about him has been poor.
‘He’s brought nothing. What has he brought to Manchester United beside headlines? Certainly nothing on the football field.
‘So at £25m you would be saying it’s a waste of money, at £85m you’ve got to look at the manager and ask why he bought him, especially as he knew him.’
Antony is coming off the back of his best performance of the season, albeit in his only start, after playing the full 90 minutes in a 7-0 EFL Cup win over Barnsley.
The Brazilian scored a 35th-minute penalty to double the lead for a Man United side, which showed eight changes from their 3-0 win at Southampton, before the Red Devils ran riot through braces from Christian Eriksen, Alejandro Garnacho and Marcus Rashford.
Antony will have to put in a few more performances similar to that seen on Tuesday night, with the forward considered to be behind Amad Diallo in the pecking order on the right-hand side.
The former Ajax man is now surrounded by old teammates after Erik Ten Hag, who managed him at both clubs, brought in a host of reinforcements from the Dutch side, including Andre Onana and Lisandro Martinez.
Indeed reports suggested the summer acquisition of Noussair Mazraoui from Bayern Munich, formerly of Ajax, was partly informed by his potential to link up with his old colleague on the right flank.
Antony is onsidered to be behind Amad Diallo in the pecking order at Old Trafford
Reports suggest the signing of Noussair Mazraoui was partly to link up with his old colleague
Paul Pogba joined Man Utd for a world-record £89m but failed to meet the lofty expectations
Antony was one of the biggest signings in United’s history but he is not unique in having not quite lived up to the hype – with the list of the club’s record deals a damning indictment of their recent transfer acumen.
Paul Pogba joined Man United in 2016 for a world-record £89m fee but failed to meet the lofty expectations and fall-outs with various managers meant his future was uncertain for the last three years of his spell at the club.
Harry Maguire is the club’s third most expensive player after moving from Leicester for £80m in 2019, while Jadon Sancho was transferred from Borussia Dortmund for £73m two years later.