Ten Hag strongly disagrees with Rio Ferdinand and Paul Scholes with Antony claim
Erik ten Hag disagrees with Rio Ferdinand and Paul Scholes over the root cause of Antony's problems at Manchester United.
The Brazil international has drastically underwhelmed since his mega-money £84million move from Ajax in the summer of 2022, but both Ferdinand and Scholes harboured some doubts before Antony had even kicked a ball for the club. Speaking ahead of his debut nearly 18 months ago, both explained how they felt the winger could struggle to deal with the rigours of the Premier League.
Scholes bemoaned the fact that English clubs pay a premium for talent from other leagues in Europe, before telling TNT Sport: "Of course, they will take advantage of any club, we have seen it all summer with Chelsea paying over the odds for players. I feel a bit for the lad, he obviously wants to come to Manchester United, one of the biggest clubs in the world.
"He is at a good club in Ajax, don’t get me wrong. But this is a proper football club where he will be seen around the world and he is a player that obviously the manager likes, he’s had him before. I feel a bit sorry for the player, but we will see what happens."
Ferdinand pulled a similar thread, discussing how the amount of money Antony cost the club could be a burden that weighs heavy. He claimed: "Antony, he's coming in at £100million or roughly around that figure, [you hope] that he comes in and that doesn't weigh heavy on his neck. You look at Grealish last year, he wasn't the same Grealish that played at Aston Villa, so it can weigh heavy."
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To say Antony has come anywhere near to justifying such a huge fee would be disingenuous, but Ten Hag that it's not because of the price tag itself. Instead, the United boss insisted the lack of on-pitch form stemmed from off-field issues.
HAVE YOUR SAY! Why has Antony struggled so much since his move to United? Comment below
Man United forward Antony has yet to score this season and has underwhelmed since joining in 2022 (Visionhaus via Getty Images)"I can explain (his struggles)," the Dutchman claimed. "I think it's very simple. I think his off-field issues stop him playing. I think first year was OK and I think in the pre-season he was very OK. First four games were very good.
"He was out and then he came back. He didn't deliver the performance we should expect from him and he can do so much better. You mention Ajax, also I look back there so his effectiveness, his end product was very high there and also in the Champions League, very high."
Though Ten Hag has a different theory on why Antony has failed to make the grade at Old Trafford, the facts remain the same - the £85m man has not done enough in a United shirt and time is running out to win over the doubters.
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