'The reality is' - Antony's agent missed the point with comments about Manchester United

At a press conference at Carrington last month, Ruben Amorim was asked why many players had underperformed at Manchester United and succeeded when they left the club. "I don’t know. Sometimes it’s like that. It can happen in any club," he initially responded before elaborating.

"This is a club with a lot of pressure and in this club you have to have a base with younger players, talented players, come to a team with one strong base, in the moment we don’t have that.

"You feel it in [Patrick] Dorgu, he was a little bit nervous in the first moment. You need to cope with the pressure, sometimes they go to other clubs and they are freer with no pressure."

Antony is the perfect case study. There were high hopes for the Brazlian when he signed for United in a £86million deal from Ajax in the summer of 2022, but he failed to replicate the form he showed in the Netherlands and he was sent on loan to Real Betis in the January transfer window.

He contributed just 12 goals and five assists in 96 appearances in Manchester, however, he's had no problem finding the back of the net in Spain, scoring four goals in 11 appearances since his move.

Real Betis are covering a minimum 84 per cent of Antony's salary and those wages have been worth every penny, as the 26-year-old has helped them up to sixth position in La Liga.

Junior Pedroso, Antony's agent, recently gave an interview to Spanish outlet Marca about his client's improvement and he suggested he wasn't responsible for his disappointing time at United.

"We respect the opinion of coach Ruben Amorim, but we completely disagree with his analysis [of the winger]," said Pedroso. "To attribute Antony's lack of success at Manchester United solely to the question of physicality is a very