Erik ten Hag ‘intervened’ to save Antony deal as Manchester Utd chiefs looked elsewhere
Manchester United manager Erik Ten Hag was persistent with his demands for the transfers that are to happen at Old Trafford and emphasised the need for more transfers, especially after the defeat to Brighton and Brentford.
After getting rejected by Frenkie De Jong, attention was turned to Ajax Amsterdam winger Antony who had worked with Erik Ten Hag at Ajax.
Erik Ten Hag wanted Manchester United to go all out for Antony to fill the right winger position which needed urgent reinforcements with the player also stating his desire to come to Old Trafford.
Ajax were reluctant to sell Antony after already having a key number of their first team stars and were stuck to their valuation of 100m bid for it to be considered.
Manchester United made a bid of £75million bid for the player to test Ajax’s resolve and the bid was denied by the Dutch club. According to Sun (h/t Express), this prompted United to look at other targets such as Cody Gakpo and Christian Pulisic.
However, Ten Hag was persistent in his standing and was confident about Antony’s ability and was pursuant to the board to secure the Brazilian’s signature.
Manchester United went ahead and made an £86million bid which was finally accepted by Ajax after holding long talks with the Ajax hierarchy and Antony made the switch to Manchester United.
The transfer fee paid for the transfer of Ajax to Manchester United is the fourth highest transfer ever in Premier League history and hence there are a lot of expectations on the signing.
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There are a lot of expectations on the new signing and he comes with a lot of promise having excelled in the Eredivisie and being a starter for Brazil. Having already done his first training session, it is possible that Antony might make his debut in the fixture against Arsenal.