Antony Might Not Be Perfect But He Needs Time

The general consensus is that Manchester United winger, Antony doesn’t look like a €100million player and, some might say it’s because he was never one in the first place.

We live in a period where transfer fees are heavily inflated and when Manchester United shelled out €100 million last summer for Antony, many questioned the move. There was a sense among some in the game that the second-most expensive player in the club’s history was far too expensive.

A record of a goal or assist every other game was good for a young Eredivisie winger during his first two years in European football after moving over from Brazil. However, it was hard to agree that those numbers alone justified such an outlay. A transfer fee greater than the €94million (£82.5m; $102.2m) Real Madrid paid for Cristiano Ronaldo in 2009, then a world record.

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Whether it did or not, it was the price United had to pay if they wanted to complete a signing regarded as a priority by Erik ten Hag — and, in doing so, back their newly appointed manager’s eye for a player, just as they had during the pursuits of Christian Eriksen, Lisandro Martinez and Tyrell Malacia.

Back-to-back defeats to begin the new Premier League campaign added a sense of urgency. Ajax’s hard negotiating stance stuck a premium on top. And so, Antony Matheus dos Santos became the 13th-most expensive footballer of all time.

Price Tag Pressure

That comes with an inevitable level of scrutiny. It shouldn’t. No player chooses their price tag. Each deserves to be judged solely on their performances. The problem for Antony is, those performances are beginning to come under the microscope, too.

Every player has their limitations and Antony is unfortunate that his biggest one is glaringly obvious. His reluctance to use his right foot was hardly a secret before he arrived in Manchester, but the sight of him bursting into space then cutting back onto his left, declining to try to beat a full-back on the outside, has become all too familiar.

He may not be the perfect player or even the finished product just yet but he deserves an opportunity to show United fans he can be a consistent provider of goals and assists.