Man Utd see sizeable £67.6m bid for Antony rejected as last throw of the dice fails

Manchester United have seen a major bid rejected by Ajax for Antony, putting further pressure on the club’s recruitment team as the summer transfer window nears its end.

Antony was one of the players identified as a priority target by United manager Erik ten Hag earlier in the summer. United chiefs Richard Arnold and John Murtough flew out to Amsterdam in June to hold negotiations with Ajax’s hierarchy over the Brazilian forward, but moved onto other targets after talks stalled.

They have now revisited their interest, only to be met with a brick wall. According to The Athletic, United bid €80million (£67.6m) for Antony on Wednesday, only to see Ajax reject the offer outright. Earlier in the summer reports emerged that Ajax valued Antony at €80m and the rejection, with just 13 days left in the transfer window, means United may well be forced to move on.

Having lost Lisandro Martinez to United already, as well as Ryan Gravenberch and Noussair Mazraoui to Bayern Munich and Sebastien Haller to Borussia Dortmund, Ajax are keen to stand firm on Antony. The 22-year-old has scored 18 goals in 57 appearances since being signed by Ten Hag from Sao Paulo in 2020 and is now established as one of the side’s star players.

United are understood to be reluctant to go higher than this week’s bid, so will instead push ahead their plans for other players. That will come as a blow to Ten Hag, who is a big fan of Antony and personally oversaw his development in Amsterdam.

Appearing as a guest on ESPN’s Good Morning Oranje in November, Ten Hag explained just how good Antony could be. “From a sporting point of view, it is clear that he is an incredible talent,” he said. “He is going through an incredibly beautiful development.