“He’s produced absolutely zero” – INEOS told Man Utd flop will return to haunt them | OneFootball

Former Premier League goalkeeper Ben Foster details why Manchester United will struggle to rid themselves of Antony come the summer.

The winger who cost the Premier League giants a whopping €86 million has been deemed one of the club’s worst signings in recent memory. The Brazilian was recruited in the summer of 2022 under the orders of his old Ajax boss Erik ten Hag, but neither man succeeded in leaving a positive mark at Old Trafford, especially the winger.

In his two and a half campaigns at Carrington, Antony only managed to produce 12 goals and five assists. Therefore, Ruben Amorim swiftly dropped him out of the lineup in favour of the more influential Amad Diallo. After spending several weeks on the bench, the writing was on the wall for the Brazil international who eventually accepted a loan move to Real Betis.

Antony has been an instant hit with the Andalusians, immediately establishing himself as a key player in Manuel Pellegrini’s starting lineup. The LaLiga boys are thus hoping to secure a new agreement with the Red Devils that would allow them to keep the player beyond the current campaign, as the original deal doesn’t include an option to buy.

Ben Foster believes Antony breakup could be costly for Man Utd

(Getty Images)

However, Foster notes that Antony’s hefty wages will be a major obstacle in the way in the way of a permanent exit, so Man Utd may have to quite literally pay the price for their poor investment by covering a sizable part of the player’s lucrative salary.

“With Antony, the rumours are that he’s on around £200,000 a week, and there’s not many teams in world football that can sign him,” said the former Man Utd custodian during his appearance on Fozcast Podcast (via Manchester Evening News)

“Antony has two or three years left on his deal at Man United and isn’t going to want to take a pay cut by signing for one of these teams on £100,000 a week. I don’t care how much money you’re on, if somebody says ‘Your wages are going to get cut by 50 per cent next year’ then it hurts.”

Hence, Foster suggests Antony could try to prompt Man Utd to pay him a figure around £12 million to release him from his contract.

“What will most probably happen is if somebody like Real Betis did sign him, Antony will say to Manchester United ‘I will accept the transfer to Real Betis. However, I’ve still got two or three years left on my contract, which is worth £20m or £30m’.

“(He will then say) ‘What you guys need to do is pay me 40 per cent of that’. It stings when you’ve invested so much money into a player…and he’s produced absolutely zero for Manchester United. They’ve sent him out on loan, and then all of a sudden he starts performing.”