£85m waste Antony has failed to justify his own bold comments about Man United manager Erik ten Hag

If anyone thought Antony's goal against Burnley would mark a new dawn in his Manchester United career, Monday night's 4-0 defeat at Crystal Palace suggested they should think again.

Deployed on the right of United's front-three, he had just 30 touches of the ball, failed to complete a single dribble and did not produce a key pass. It resulted in him being hooked after 60 minutes and being replaced by Sofyan Amrabat, at which point United were already 3-0 down.

It was a telling decision by Erik ten Hag to withdraw an attacker for a defensive-midfielder with his side in such desperate need of goals, but even he could not ignore the fact he had been poor. He struggled to have any sort of impact and it was another reminder of what a waste of £85.5million he has been.

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Of course, the Brazilian is not to blame for the size of the transfer fee United invested in him almost two years ago, but he is the one in the firing line. He will never be able to shake off such an eye-watering fee.

United paid over the odds to sign Antony from Ajax on the final day of the 2022 summer transfer window. Their £85.5m investment has repaid them so far with 11 goals and five assists. It goes without saying that you would expect a better return from such an expensive addition.

Ten Hag handpicked Antony to solve United's long-term right-wing troubles having worked so closely with him at Ajax. In the Dutchman's defence, he had been able to get a successful tune out of him in the Netherlands.

However, the gulf in standard between the Eredivisie and the Premier League is one