It took a little over half-an-hour of their professional relationship for Antony Matheus Dos Santos, a dazzling winger freshly arrived from his native Brazil, to show Erik ten Hag, his head coach at Ajax, what constitutes a ‘typical’ Antony goal.
The player was making his league debut in Rotterdam against Sparta on a warm September afternoon, and, receiving the ball while tucked in from his position wide on the right, he cut inside.
The cut inside, right to left, is Antony’s first instinct, as Ten Hag, now busy assembling a plan to revive Manchester United, knows as well as anybody who has coached him.
In fact, Antony’s cut inside is as thoroughly signposted to opponents as any aspect of a 22-year-old footballer’s game can be.
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