Just for the record, any player that allows a transfer fee to really impact their play is never going to make it anyways. So it doesn’t really matter.
Antony | Here we go! €100mill, contract until June 2027, option 'til 2028.
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) was joined by comedian Ali Woods to look back at the best and worst moments of a rollercoaster season with the annual United Hour Awards.
Has Ten Hag been sacked yet? We're not sure and we hope not, but it's looking more likely as the days pass.
Who should replace him and why is it taking so long to make a decision?
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except that’s half the problem with players from eredivisie. They come here having posted huge numbers and turn out not that great, so huge numbers are not a pointer to anything. If he had huge numbers people would be say it was in a weak league. I think we have overpaid, and don’t think we should have got him, but beating him with stats that mean nothing anyway is ridiculous.
Back then we were playing with two strikers (who were actual strikers). The role of the full back has obviously been completely revolutionised, playing out from the back has required a much higher technical level from the whole XI, and when the full back is more committed in the attacking third, exploiting options both on the inside and outside makes you less predictable and harder to play against.
The last bona fide winger I enjoyed watching was the City version of Leroy Sane.
People might have a look at Ronaldo's stats in his early career at United not exactly unbelievable but with the right guidance and coaching he became one of the greatest . Fee does seem expensive , however if ETH wants him and believes in him like Fergie did with Ronnie I'm on board. Welcome Antony I hope you become a superstar
Beckham would be an RB or wing back similar to how TAA plays.
Ronaldo was two footed and developed into a physical beast. We paid 100m for the Brazilian Jarrod Bowen.
Ouch he didn't get long from you
My point is he didn't start out as a physical beast. And Ronaldo had some very dodgy performances to begin even with his two feet
Okay, here's some crazy context in terms of price and age.
Anthony Gordon, bid by Chelsea is rumored to be 60M GBP. That's a lot for a player of his profile, given he's 21 and what he really shown? Plus how he fits into Chelsea isn't exactly as clear compared to Antony at United. Left footed, right winger. Bang. Gordon at Chelsea is going to displace Havertz or Mount?
Antony's fee is approximately 85M GBP...for a player who most would say is better and more proven than Gordon, yet only 1 year older than him. Gordon and Antony have the same birthday, Feb 24th!
Anthony Gordon, bid by Chelsea is rumored to be 60M GBP. That's a lot for a player of his profile, given he's 21 and what he really shown? Plus how he fits into Chelsea isn't exactly as clear compared to Antony at United. Left footed, right winger. Bang. Gordon at Chelsea is going to displace Havertz or Mount?
Antony's fee is approximately 85M GBP...for a player who most would say is better and more proven than Gordon, yet only 1 year older than him. Gordon and Antony have the same birthday, Feb 24th!
We were never going to sign 7 new first team players. 5 is pushing it. We’ve done ok.
The important factor that isn't being discussed enough: Having a left-footed attacker on the right should make our attack more balanced and less predictable. It doesn't necessarily have to be a world class player either.
I've sobered up
but you couldn’t have predicted that when he arrived. I remember the slating he took for being all flair and no end product. All stepovers and too many blind alleys. Ronnie’s early output was pretty average, as it happens I don’t think they are comparable, but you can’t base it on early careers like that
So you have changed mind on signing
That's a really encouraging graph plotting progressive passes and carries. He might be worth 100mil after all
We have a stronger bench for sure with players we all wanted benched!
Agree with this. outrageously skillful. His movement with the ball in tight spaces remind me Ronaldinho.
Ronaldinho stats at PSG were around the same quality as Antony’s at Ajax.
Ronaldinho stats at PSG were around the same quality as Antony’s at Ajax.
Do we know when he’ll be available to play for us?
Arsenal next Sunday most realistic, depends how long the visa takes to sort out
I feel like there are plenty of players we can say that about. Pepe comes to mind, and what about Thauvin, Bakayoko etc? Plenty have bossed it in their respective smaller leagues at young ages and gone on to do nothing of note. I'll bet the casual observer would have signed someone with better stats than Kante when he went to Leicester. Maybe he was bossing it with Caen, I really don't know.
What's the point in comparing Antony to Tadic, who has 10 years of experience, major tournament experience and PL experience in the bank? My point is that comparing players across leagues is not in any way reliable or consistent. Neither Salah nor KDB made it at Chelsea, KDB excels in the Bundesliga but Salah doesn't light up Serie A. I think we all expected KDB to be a great at City, but did we see it with Salah?
Playing in the PL for Man Utd is more about mentality and character than ability alone, and Antony seems to have just the right amount of swagger and arrogance to go with his talent.
I wasn't 100% for the transfer because I felt like we needed De Jong more, but I just find it strange how any United fan can look at this transfer negatively. I couldn't care who's money we spend and how much of it if it means we are buying exciting talented players.
I prefer to look at this differently. Don't compare him with others, compare Antony to what we have in the squad right now. He brings something completely different to anything else we have, or have had for a long time now on that right wing. That alone is worth something.
It's the same logical sense of having a left footed CB like Lisandro. The technical ability on the ball has increased significantly with the addtions of Lisandro, Eriksen, Casemiro, and now Antony. With Sancho on the left, Antony on the right, and even Martial/Ronaldo combo through the middle (for now), the balance of the team is so much better like you mentioned
The squad building will not be fully realized for another year or two, with probably a new CF, another CM, GK not named David, a RB, and possibly a new CB. But the team is improving day by day on a basic, yet extremely important level.
That sounds about right.
When you cost 100m "making it" means something else compared to a 10m punt from the championship. It adds so much pressure on the shoulders of a young player and expectation. He has to be extremely good to be appreciated (by fans, suits etc) as a good signing. While a 10m punt can be appreciated just for being a decent squad player.
Even if he doesn't live up to that massive pricetag, I hope he can adapt quick and become one of our best players. That would be enough.
Time against us with bank holiday too
Of course they would but the disgraceful nature of European football means Ajax, one of the greatest and most important clubs in the history of the game have been forced into the position of a feeder club. Crying shame for the sport and they should bleed every club for as much as they can get.
Given that they have done as well as they possibly could have this summer.
Now let’s find the new Ruud van Nistelrooy from Eredivisie and we’re back in business
You'd hope it's something we'll work on a lot this season with genuine width on both flanks now.
We score a ridiculously low amount of those tap ins and back post finishes. Especially when you compare to Liverpool and City. You truly can't underestimate how difficult it is to defend when wingers deliver from the byline with defenders facing their own goal.
This is probably the most encouraging thing I've seen on him so far. I hope it translates to the PLYep. For example, note Antony top right on the below. Also worth noting where Martinez is too. It's fairly basic but actually being being able to progress the ball forward effectively is something we've struggled with in recent years.
"Spashing"
Given the situation we're in, we'll have to overpay for any promising young attacking player. There's no two ways about it. The only way we get back on track is by signing the potential future stars, and the only way we sign them is by overpaying. If we were to look for value in the market, we'd doom ourselves to thirty years of mediocrity. We can thank the Glazers for putting us in this position, but the fact of the matter is that they're finally starting to do the only thing that might turn it all around for us: spending big. Of all the players left in the market, he's the one who would probably help us the most, and the price is secondary to that. Under no conceivable circumstances are we better served buying a lesser player just because he's cheaper. It's senseless to worry about the money. We can't afford to do that, so to speak.
And can people stop fretting over transfer fees, please? Don't you see that it's counterproductive? It's a lose-lose mentality. If he doesn't hit the ground running, those who scrutinized the fee and wrung their hands about money will contribute to the added pressure that could make it all the more difficult for him. If he does hit the ground running, it's not as though fretting over the fee contributed to that. There's nothing to be gained by having fans anguishing over the money spent. At worst it makes the player more likely to fail because of the unnecessary pressure, and at best it does nothing. There's no upside to going around saying "he's to expensive, we shouldn't have got him." Just accept that that's how much it costs to force a move for the #1 target remaining in the market and stop wallowing in pointless, self-destructive concern over it.
If it should turn out that he has a difficult first season (not unlikely in a new, tougher league and arriving after it has already started), and I start hearing fans ragging on him based on the transfer fee - which players absolutely do find out about in one way or another, if it's widespread enough - then I'll be the first to say that those fans are actively contributing to the decline of this club. The only way that fee can negatively impact the player is if the fans fail to adequately support him because they think he cost too much, and there's literally nothing to be gained from that. It's pure self-sabotage for no reason. Treat the player the same whether they cost £80m or £1. Anything else just does damage to the club and serves no useful purpose. Nobody gets anything out of being critical of a player based on what he cost. It's useless.
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Didnt we pay 50m for Amad and he didnt even get to play in the first team? a quality RW is a rarity these days.
Also might as well ask Dalot to match Antony's hairstyle now to confuse opponents.
Also might as well ask Dalot to match Antony's hairstyle now to confuse opponents.
Do you really have confidence in the structure the glazers put in place to address every need we have in our squad?
They haven't done so for a good number of years now. We have addressed 2 in the last week. To me that feels like good news.
For what it's worth whatever happened with Antony I would bet a lot of money that we were not signing a starting goalkeeper this summer.
You are worrying about things that are out of your control. Considering football is supposed to be a pastime that brings you enjoyement I would much rather focus on the positives and look forward to seeing Antony do a bunch of exciting stuff.
No we didn't pay 50m for Amad.
Nah it was 500m.
Why walk away from the deal if you can afford it? I don’t understand. Just because we aren’t currently successful on the pitch doesn’t mean we can’t spend our money. How do you expect to change the cycle without taking risks?
Significantly less?
Richarlison £60m
Raphinha £55m
Antony £80m
Define significant?
Whilst Antony has no Premier League experience he is 22 whilst both Raphinha and Richarlison are 25 (3 years older). Antony also has Champions League experience whilst neither of the others do. All are full Brazilian international
Define considerably more experience?
This is the same window that’s seen Darwin Nunez move to Liverpool for £85m, Fofana to Chelsea for £75m and Cucerella the same way for £63m. Chelsea have also bid £60m for Gordon.
United were buying from the biggest club in Holland. Not Everton or Leeds. A Champions League club. Just like Liverpool were buying from Benfica of Portugal.
The price for Antony isn’t as ridiculous as some of you want to make out when you actually look at the market and other factors.
I was going to ask earlier how long until he has 1 bad performance and opposition fans say something like "Love watching the 100m Jarrod Bowen" or some other random player. Bowen was the one I had in mind because it was most predictable.
You didn't even wait for him to play for us. Good job.
I guess the writer got spashed
Let’s face it, the Caf can be pretty toxic. Huge numbers think the rest of us are here to read their expert opinions. Most of these opinions are not their own, but what they think is cool. Many seem to be kids or have never seen an actual game other than on TV. And that’s okay. (Another lot are shit-faced drunk). Still, there are some knowledgeable, funny and well worth reading contributions here. You get people posting who remember seeing Duncan Edwards at OT. The good bits make shovelling through the dross worthwhile.
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Too much money, too much money. I am gonna sacrifice a lamb for this guy to be good.
I could also see Beckham as a RCM in a midfield 3. Ward-Prowse gets in a fair few crosses when they play that way and Giggs in front of him in an attacking 3 looking to come inside constantly and leaving space on the outside. Neville or Irwin stays at home at RB, and we'd have paid a bunch for an attacking left back like I dunno, Robert Jarni or Van Bronckhorst or Le Saux to balance the side with attacking width on the left. One big money striker like Cole or Sheringham is never signed, maybe Ince stays longer with a bit more freedom on the pitch to go forward and we'd have signed a big money right-footed left-winger (let's say Bryan Laudrup or Overmars) or Ole would have won the job.
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