Antony | Here we go! €100mill, contract until June 2027, option 'til 2028.

[Daslogisch]

Ajax just doesn't want to sell. I really like Ajax' stance on this and I'd believe it as well. For people searching for reasons why Ajax would do this:

1. Ajax really does not want to sell (as explained a million times already).
2. Ajax have acknowledged the market has gone crazy. Signing a replacement will be much more costly as well. When Ajax banked all the money from Martinez it found out it had to pay €22-27m for a defender from the Scottish league that was still a bench player for half of last season.
3. We're almost into august. Signing a replacement will be only more difficult and more expensive as we get near to the deadline.
4. A new signing can't be part of pre season anymore as the season starts next week. Hence a new signing has to adjust to everything during the season.
5. Did I mention yet that Ajax never had any intention of selling?

Of course €100m is a crazy fee. No one should pay that for Antony at this point. Next year he'll be cheaper unless he completely explodes. The only reason for United to consider a crazy bid like that is FOMO. Obviously if he does explode everyone will be after him next year. In that case United might very well not be his first choice. The only reason for United to take him right now is to be ahead of the competition. However it would require an outrageous fee to do that. United should probably move on.

 

[Mcking]

Is he the Brazilian Robben?

He looks more of a playmaker. I love watching good wide playmakers. Hopefully we get this done.

 

[Zoo]

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[Trex]

getting 60m euros for him will put them in the front seat to buy who ever they want in Holland to challenge in the league again. Its not like they will Challenge for the CL.

The demand for quality players in footballers in general is higher than supply, it doesn't matter if you have cash you may not find the right quality, that's why a club would rather hold on to players who have proven they can do it at the required level instead of exchanging them for cash unless its an absurd offer.

 

[Massive Spanner]

Can't blame Ajax for wanting to keep their prize asset. They've been butchered this summer.

Let's come back next summer, he's hardly a priority.

 

[Godfather]

This is frankly what happens when you wait too long

 

[red thru&thru]

This is frankly what happens when you wait too long

I'm not aware of any club that gets their business all done on day one. Even City are chasing the Brighton LB and having to negotiate a high fee. Leaving it "too long" isn't a mutually exclusive situation for United.

 

[Chairman Steve]

Just go fill some other holes in the team with the money, like a new centre forward or potentially a new right back.

 

[Ikon]

Ajax can't buy a player of similar quality, because who wants to play in the Eredivisie?

No end of players from South America, Africa or Asia, looking for an opportunity to make a name for themselves in European football, and with Ajax's excellent scouting network I'd be surprised if they are not already monitoring a few talents.


Anyway, reports that I am reading this morning are saying that Ajax have lowered their asking price to a more realistic €55M plus add ons.
But again, surely we must have players that would be open to a move to Ajax to use in an exchange deal or some sort?
Bailly? Telles? Amad?

 

[JuriM]

If we really want to add a quality left footed attacker to the squad, then no price is too high. I don't see anyone as good as him in the market atm. Maybe there is some undiscovered talents, but I simply don't know them yet.

 

[Bestietom]

Get this deal done quickly. Fantastic right winger and exactly what we need.

 

[MUFC OK]

Pretty much agreed yes. If he was the only hole in our team, I'd be up for it, I think he's amazing. But there is more work to do.

Id do it if were getting Tielemans over FDJ.

 

[AjaxCunian]

No end of players from South America, Africa or Asia, looking for an opportunity to make a name for themselves in European football, and with Ajax's excellent scouting network I'd be surprised if they are not already monitoring a few talents.


Anyway, reports that I am reading this morning are saying that Ajax have lowered their asking price to a more realistic €55M plus add ons.
But again, surely we must have players that would be open to a move to Ajax to use in an exchange deal or some sort?
Bailly? Telles? Amad?

They'll be nowhere near as good as Antony's current level though. If so, they are on to bigger teams. The likes of Alvarez.

It is near impossible for Ajax to improve upon the key players that they sell, they have to be very creative in replacing them.

Luckily Brobbey/Bergwijn will replace Haller by their Ajax links.

Bassey is a very good find I think by the management, he and Blind will replace Martinez. Wijndal replaces Blind/Tagliafico.

As for Antony, Ajax kind of have Bergwijn/Ihattaren/Conceiçăo as replacements but you also have a team. A whole new team, including a new manager is problematic. There are no habits to fall back on even if ability wise you've had good replacements.

So it's probably the combination.

Dortmund has this problem a bit as well, they've done great, but how to they replace Sancho, Haland?

 

[Mainoldo]

Then why does he consistently get picked for Uruguay? Can’t be that bad. Swear posters consistently down play a footballers ability for no reason whatsoever

Go fetch me their team and i‘ll give you 100£ if there starting line up consists of players from the best clubs in Europe. They aren’t the English national team.

 

[AjaxCunian]

Id do it if were getting Tielemans over FDJ.

Are you saying you'd rather get Antony and sign no midfielder or if we sign Tielemans over de Jong, get Antony?

 

[Berbaclass]

I hope they regret being so stubborn. €70/80 was already a lot for him (too much)

€100 Million is crazy

 

[Lash]

Shame, thought this one was going to happen. 100m is far too much.

 

[devilish]

That what happens when you've got a manager who is obsessed with one particular league. Ole's obsession with a British core meant that we had to spend 80m on a fridge while ETH's obsession with the Dutch league means that we have to pay 100m for a winger whose stats are, quite frankly, meah.

 

[MUFC OK]

Are you saying you'd rather get Antony and sign no midfielder or if we sign Tielemans over de Jong, get Antony?

Priority is FDJ. If we cant get him I'd see if we can stretch to Tielemans and Antony. We can't go without a midfield addition.

 

[MUFC OK]

I hope they regret being so stubborn. €70/80 was already a lot for him (too much)

€100 Million is crazy

Clearly, Ajax dont need to sell and will only do is if they can make us look stupid/get an offer they cant refuse.

 

[Berbaclass]

Clearly, Ajax dont need to sell and will only do is if they can make us look stupid/get an offer they cant refuse.

Then I hope they end up with another Neres.

 

[prateik]

Then I hope they end up with another Neres.

Why? You want a player to fail because Ajax dont want to sell him?

 

[Berbaclass]

Why? You want a player to fail because Ajax dont want to sell him?

If we have or are planning to offer €80 million then they are silly for not taking it. Much more than he's worth.

 

[pcaming]

It's our own fault really. Deal could have been done ages ago, but we chose the farcical path.

 

[prateik]

If we have or are planning to offer €80 million then they are silly for not taking it. Much more than he's worth.

Why are you deciding what he is worth to them?

If they dont need the money, who cares.. they probably feel they can get 70-80m for him any time.. if they dont have a replacement, why sell.. they'll keep him.. his value might go up after the WC.. or at least gives them time to unearth a replacement who they dont have to pay through the nose for..

Wishing a player fails because his club wont accept a bid from us is ridiculous.

I agree 80m is stupid money from our point of view.. I hope we dont spend that.. If he isnt available for a price that works for us, we should look elsewhere.. not get mad at Ajax for being unreasonable.

 

[Berbaclass]

Why are you deciding what he is worth to them?

If they dont need the money, who cares.. they probably feel they can get 70-80m for him any time.. if they dont have a replacement, why sell.. they'll keep him.. his value might go up after the WC.. or at least gives them time to unearth a replacement who they dont have to pay through the nose for..

Wishing a player fails because his club wont accept a bid from us is ridiculous.

I'm giving my opinion on a forum mate, par for the course.

 

[Alemar]

Maybe we should offer cash + Ronaldo for Antony?

 

[Mickeza]

It's our own fault really. Deal could have been done ages ago, but we chose the farcical path.

How could it have been done ages ago? They don’t want to fecking sell unless we offer an obscene amount.

 

[AJ VII]

I don't get how a club can claim the player is worth an extraordinary amount like 70-100m€, and not pay the player a wage that justifies a crazy fee like that.

If the players value is 100m€, he should demand a raise to 200k p/w if he has to stay at the club. I would think the player would get demotivated to play on a 40k p/w or whatever contract, if the club values you to be one of the best players in the world.

Hopefully Antony puts pressure on Ajax in the coming week like Martinez did, because we really need more options in attackm

 

[Kostov]

If you were Ajax why wouldn't you do the same? They got potentially 67.5m euros for Lisandro Martinez, they would fancy their chances of getting 100m.

 

[Ikon]

I'm giving my opinion on a forum mate, par for the course.

Perhaps not Ronaldo because his wage demands would cripple Ajax, but we do have other players that should be open to a switch, such as Bailly, Telles, Amad, Axel, Chong....?

 

[pcaming]

How could it have been done ages ago? They don’t want to fecking sell unless we offer an obscene amount.

We should have done it earlier on, when they were open to sales...

 

[Mickeza]

We should have done it earlier on, when they were open to sales...

You mean before we signed Martinez? Then we couldn’t have signed him. Stop watching Goldbridge talk shit and engage your own brain. Gravenbech had one year on his deal and Bayern had him tapped up BEFORE we even hired ETH. He was always being sold. The RB was out of contract. Antony and Martinez were not for sale - we got one by overpaying - the only way to get the other is to do the same OR he forces the move through dodgy means.

 

[Alemar]

Actually we can offer them a combination of Ronaldo + Bissaka + Alex Telles + Bailly for Antony. It’s 50-60 m worth of players, so maybe 10-15 m cash as well. Then Ajax gets 4 players all of whom may be starters or at least squad options

 

[WPMUFC]

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[GreatDane]

Actually we can offer them a combination of Ronaldo + Bissaka + Alex Telles + Bailly for Antony. It’s 50-60 m worth of players, so maybe 10-15 m cash as well. Then Ajax gets 4 players all of whom may be starters or at least squad options

You really think that the players want to + Ajax can pick up their wages? Come on.

 

[mitchmouse]

We scored more as a team before Ronaldo came back, and we´ll score more when he leaves.
He demands every attack ends with him and he is simply not good enough anymore to be that guy.

And no, noone can predict anything but I´d put money on Martial (or a new striker) doing at least as good if given the chance in Ten Hags system. Pre season means shit, but it does look like Martials is giving a shit again.

so why didn't he give a shit while on loan last season? He's had one good(ish) season for us, that's it

 

[RDCR07]

Actually we can offer them a combination of Ronaldo + Bissaka + Alex Telles + Bailly for Antony. It’s 50-60 m worth of players, so maybe 10-15 m cash as well. Then Ajax gets 4 players all of whom may be starters or at least squad options

This shit won’t even fly in FM.

 

[DJ_21]

Enough with this catering to Ronaldo, that fecked us last season.
Play as a team and we will score enough goals, pass it to Ronaldo and we won't get anywhere.

Agree with the playing as a team will get us goals but also a forward that sniffs out opportunities and bangs in goals for fun will help. We didn’t play as much as a team last season because we didn’t function well and didn’t have a set system… playing as a team this season with Ronaldo upfront will make us 100% a lot stronger.

 

[DJ_21]

Well, the aim is to have a functioning team that wins games, it's not about Ronaldo scoring goals and the rest of the team not doing so well. We where a better team before he came back.

And we can be just as good with him there… he came back to us when we was all over the place and under a manager that didn’t have a clue what he was doing. With ten Hag getting us to play as a team and bond with each other then I guarantee Ronaldo will be a different player. He stood out last season because the rest of the team was crap but this season he’ll be 1 of many that would of had a great season.