Erik ten Hag left red-faced over Man United transfer as Old Trafford icon's advice ignored

Since Erik ten Hag took the reins at Manchester United in 2022, he's been on a spending spree, with £600 million shelled out on 15 permanent signings. Antony stands as the priciest among these acquisitions and the club's second most expensive buy ever.

The Red Devils forked out approximately £85 million to bring the Brazilian winger over from Ten Hag's previous team, Ajax, but his impact has been less than stellar.

Antony's record so far is modest, with just five goals and three assists across 56 Premier League matches, and notably, three of those contributions came within his first trio of league games. Edwin van der Sar, the United icon who served as Ajax's CEO when Antony was signed, had previously cautioned that the club had paid over the odds for him.

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While Van der Sar acknowledged Antony's "potential world star" status, he felt another year at Ajax would have been beneficial for his growth. Nonetheless, the offer from United was too substantial to turn down.

Post-transfer, speaking with The Athletic, Van der Sar remarked: "We would have liked to keep him here one year longer - there was not a dire need to sell him, we had money in the bank - but the fee got so high. We challenged United to go as far as possible.", reports the Mirror.

Despite this, Antony's time at Old Trafford hasn't yet lived up to expectations, with his sole start this season occurring in last month's 7-0 Carabao Cup triumph against League One outfit Barnsley. Currently, he finds himself behind Marcus Rashford, Alejandro Garnacho, and