24 January 2023 , 13:37
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Manchester United winger Antony has been branded a “YouTube footballer” who "lacks substance" amid a barrage of criticism following his performance against Arsenal on Sunday.
The Brazilian played 71 minutes of the 3-2 defeat at the Emirates Stadium, but failed to make any sort of impact. Erik ten Hag was clearly not impressed, opting to replace the winger with Fred, despite United chasing the game in the second half.
Antony arrived as one of United’s marquee signings in the summer, with the club shelling out £85.5million to get him from Ajax. They sanctioned the club’s second highest ever transfer fee after Antony recorded 24 goals and 22 assists in 82 appearances for Ajax, but are yet to be repaid.
The 22-year-old has five goals in 19 games across all competition so far, but is yet to record a single assist and hasn’t netted in the Premier League since October 9. His performance against Arsenal was slammed by Rio Ferdinand, who bemoaned his inability to beat defenders.
Ferdinand on his FIVE YouTube show, declared: “The concerning thing for me with somebody like Antony is that he can’t beat anyone – and for a Brazilian that’s surprising!
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"He just doesn’t beat anyone and I’m sitting there thinking, ‘Was that always the way?’”
Antony has not scored in the Premier League since October 9 (James Williamson/Getty Images)HAVE YOUR SAY! Have you been disappointed with Antony's performances for Manchester United recently? Comment below.
Gary Neville weighed in, comparing him with Marcus Rashford and Arsenal’s young stars after the defeat, where he was largely ineffectual and hooked during the second half.
“I want to see more from Antony, £90m signing and I think to take him off is a disappointment because you would like to think like Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka, who are also young players, that Marcus Rashford and Antony could've been the ones on the other side of it, counter-attacking for United,” Neville said on his Sky Sports podcast.
“But it's just not happening for him at this moment in time and he has got a bit of work to do. He obviously is newer to England than the other two.”
Antony did not trouble Arsenal's defence on Sunday (Mark Leech/Getty Images)Now former Premier League striker Darren Bent has had his equally damning say on the subject.
“All tricks and flicks, no substance at the minute,” he said on talkSPORT. “He’s doing all this stuff but he’s not going past anyone.
"It’s not like he’s doing a trick to manipulate the ball to go past someone, he’s just doing it for the sake of it. A little bit like the spin, at the time I was like ‘ah come on it’s only a spin’.”
Bent was then asked if Antony was a “YouTube footballer”. He replied: “A little bit, yeah. You clip all the best bits of a footballer and you look at it on YouTube and go ‘wow, I can’t believe we’re signing him!’
“But where’s the substance in between, where’s the end product? I know he started off alright at United, couple of good goals, but where’s the end product?”
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Antony will have a chance to hit back at his critics when United take on Nottingham Forest in the first leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final on Wednesday before taking on Reading in the fourth round of the FA Cup on Saturday.