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

[cyberman]

But their excuse is true, Manchester United have left it too late in the window for them to secure an appropriate replacement.

Ajax knew Antony wanted to leave, all he needed was a club to come in and match their valuation and he would leave.

As of yet that hadn't happened and they are demanding a premium due to Uniteds inaction due to the fact they will have to venture back into the market and pay a premium for his replacement themselves (if one is available at this late stage).

It's 100% on United for messing this up.

We made our first bid in last week of July after (presumably) rounds of negotiation. They first raised fee on us in the middle of July!
The only reason This is late so is because Ajax continually set a price then say no, wait it’s more. The only reason this isn’t done is because of Ajax, we were bidding long before where we are now.
The way fans are going on you’d think we first approached Ajax yesterdays for feck sake. We’ve met their price like 3 times now over the past 4/5 weeks now.

 

[Cheimoon]

Ajax knew Antony would be leaving this summer in February. His interview has totally exposed their ‘we have no time to replace you’ excuse.

Did it say anywhere that Ajax agreed to Antony's request to be sold this summer? I know he brought it up already in February etc, but what if Ajax already told him back then that it was too early for them and they wouldn't cooperate with transfer talks?

Ajax tend to be pretty easy-going with this, but always within certain limits. For example, they agreed with De Ligt (or was it De Jong, or both? it's a pretty common approach for them) that he would stay another year regardless of whatever offers he'd get in the summer, and that they would fully cooperate with a transfer the year after. And they did.

Maybe they told Antony the same and are currently pissed off that he's trying to push this through anyway. Or at least, stuff like that is common practice for Ajax, and I haven't read anything yet that goes against that sort of scenario.

 

[cyberman]

Because they wouldn't be 3 weeks into a season and they'd have months and months to replace him, rather than a few days.

No one truly believes that we offered over 90m Euros on day 1 of the transfer window then he'd still be an Ajax player. We were slow and ponderous yet again.

It amazes me after 10 years of this incompetence people are still desperate to defend the club.

Why would we offer more than they demanded? We have continually met their evaluation That what we’ve done for about 3 times now and it’s ridiculous to march in with 78m (whatever it is in pounds) when they initially asked for 51m
How does that make sense to you?

Edit I’ve continually called this club out over its transfer business so enough of that absolute nonsense from you.

 

[LARulz]

Is he though? Born in Osasco, the 9th richest city in Brazil.

To be fair though, not that I have any idea where he is exactly from, but you can still live in a deprived area in rich cities. It's not like London and NYC are full of just rich and well off people

 

[amolbhatia50k]

I genuinely can’t believe Ajax are not satisfied with 90m for this guy, it doesn’t make any sense.
They might never get that kind of offer again, something doesn’t seem right here, you know?

Maybe they're convinced he'll be a top top player and seeing the fees for players like Nunez are confident of getting that much in the future? Or more likely they know the position we've gotten ourselves into they know we are a bit fecked.

 

[Micky Targaryen]

The club will announce that we signed Antony for an “undisclosed fee” and watch caftards go into a meltdown.

 

[RacingClub]

We made our first bid in last week of July after (presumably) rounds of negotiation. They first raised fee on us in the middle of July!
The only reason This is late so is because Ajax continually set a price then say no, wait it’s more. The only reason this isn’t done is because of Ajax, we were bidding long before where we are now.
The way fans are going on you’d think we first approached Ajax yesterdays for feck sake. We’ve met their price like 3 times now over the past 4/5 weeks now.

My impression of the situation was that Ajax set a fee for Antony (+£60m or €80m ish) in early/ mid July which United attempted to low-ball with a bid of £51m which was rejected and talks stalled/ went quiet.

Then United went back at the end of July (after the Ronaldo news?) to continue the negotiation but by then Ajax had upped their price to 100m euros all in (other player sales + close to the start of the new season) and as of yet United still haven't met it?

So although you eventually met their Mid July price (€80m+ ) it was no longer the price they required for the players service.

 

[forevrared]

He looks exciting but I thought going back with €90m was absolute madness. Even more insane that they’ve turned it down.

I wonder if they’d take Amad on loan as part of the deal - he’d probably excel in the Eredivisie.

 

[Womp]

Can't know what's really going on, but do believe what Antony said because it suits United's agenda ... right.

Antony could just as easily be lying through his teeth on his own or under instructions from his manager. He's from a favela, those guys will literally do anything they have to including murder to get ahead.

Looking at at least 3-5 times his current salary, plenty of reasons to lie.

This has got to be one of the most backwards things I've read on here for some time

 

[red thru&thru]

Not too sure what else United were meant to have done?

Ajax cleay had plenty of notice. Antony had been telling them since February he wanted to move. Even cut short his holiday in June when there were offers to buy him.

By all accounts, Ajax keep moving the goal posts.

From United's perspective, we desperately want the player, he desperately wants to come, and we're paying over the odds. Not too sure what other strategy we are meant to use here?

 

[UNITED ACADEMY]

I would sell Amad as part of the exchange deal. Offer them €75m plus Amad. Surely Ajax wouldn’t mind since they will get big cash plus his replacement who is still young and can be developed. Buying Antony could mean Amad wouldn’t get a chance in here because Antony is only 2 years older than him, which buying Antony is considered as long term investment. On top of it, we still have Sancho and Garnacho. I don’t see a future of Amad in here if we sign Antony, so we might should just let him go as part of this exchange deal.

 

[UNITED ACADEMY]

If it wasn‘t because Ten Hag, their players wouldn’t be valued this high. Look at VDB, £40m for Everton level of player. They should just be thankful to Ten Hag and accept €90m. That’s a lot of money already. Not even Sancho cost us more than that.

 

[hobbers]

I would sell Amad as part of the exchange deal. Offer them €75m plus Amad. Surely Ajax wouldn’t mind since they will get big cash plus his replacement who is still young and can be developed. Buying Antony could mean Amad wouldn’t get a chance in here because Antony is only 2 years older than him, which buying Antony is considered as long term investment. On top of it, we still have Sancho and Garnacho. I don’t see a future of Amad in here if we sign Antony, so we might should just let him go as part of this exchange deal.

Amad will be valued at £3-5m maximum.

 

[Rolaholic]

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[Ahmer Baig]

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This is exactly what is wrong with Utd transfer business.

 

[RedRonaldo]

Those ungrateful cnuts from Ajax.

We paid them alot of money for VDB and Martinez, and willing to offer 90m for Antony, who only managed 8 goals 4 assist in Dutch league last season, what a fecking joke, so fecking average stats for fecking 90m forward player in a fecking shite farmers league. Feck off.

That's nearly €200m for 3 players, who shouldn't worth more than €120m combined. They should just take the money, thank us, and run.

Those fecking ridiculous cnuts.

 

[Cheimoon]

Those ungrateful cnuts from Ajax.

We paid them alot of money for VDB and Martinez, and willing to offer 90m for Antony, who only managed 8 goals 4 assist in Dutch league last season, what a fecking joke, so fecking average stats for fecking 90m forward player in a fecking shite farmers league. Feck off.

That's nearly €200m for 3 players, who shouldn't worth more than €120m combined. They should just take the money, thank us, and run.

Those fecking ridiculous cnuts.

Ajax should be grateful for United wanting to buy a player they say they don't want to lose...?!

 

[fallengt]

If Ajax was selling to Real or Barca they would bend their ass and accept fee as low as 60m

 

[RedBanker]

Definitely not worth that amount of money. He ain't going to give us 25 goals. Funny that Isak at 70 mils was being touted as overpriced but this guy at 100 mils isn't.

 

[kouroux]

Those ungrateful cnuts from Ajax.

We paid them alot of money for VDB and Martinez, and willing to offer 90m for Antony, who only managed 8 goals 4 assist in Dutch league last season, what a fecking joke, so fecking average stats for fecking 90m forward player in a fecking shite farmers league. Feck off.

That's nearly €200m for 3 players, who shouldn't worth more than €120m combined. They should just take the money, thank us, and run.

Those fecking ridiculous cnuts.

Honestly it is crazy. We should have let this one a while ago

 

[RedRonaldo]

Ajax should be grateful for United wanting to buy a player they say they don't want to lose...?!

Look Ajax bought Antony for 13m only 2 years ago. He hasn't really dominate their shite league since then. His stats is a joke for a 90m player. Most young talents only going to there as stepping stones for bigger move elsewhere in future.

This has always been the case for them. Always. They are just sellers club, and we paid them premium price for their players.

They should be grateful for us. No young talents would join them should they block their big moves. This is the reality.

 

[zenith]

Please please walk away

 

[groovyalbert]

If he was such a key target, why wait til the end of the window to bid? This is completely down to the Glazers not backing the club properly/having a clear plan for the window.

If we'd gone in for him in June (and actually had him integrated into the team during preseason and not 4/5 games into the league) we would have got him for a similar price to Martinez. Guaranteed. Ajax are not to blame in the slightest here.

 

[RedRonaldo]

I'd rather play Garnacho more this season, instead breaking our bank to sign another unproven young talent.

 

[Adnan]

Not too sure what else United were meant to have done?

Ajax cleay had plenty of notice. Antony had been telling them since February he wanted to move. Even cut short his holiday in June when there were offers to buy him.

By all accounts, Ajax keep moving the goal posts.

From United's perspective, we desperately want the player, he desperately wants to come, and we're paying over the odds. Not too sure what other strategy we are meant to use here?

I've been reading reports for several months now regarding Antony wanting to leave Ajax for a bigger league. So i'm not surprised he's pissed off.

But if United do end up signing him, i for one will be very happy to see such a flamboyant player arrive who has the potential to be a world class player with elite touch and technique. He's a player that I highlighted on this forum a few years ago when he made the move to Ajax from Sao Paulo.

If someone had said to me that we would sign Malacia, Eriksen, Martinez, Casemiro, Antony etc after we lost to Crystal Palace at the end of last season, I wouldn't have believed them. I'm looking forward to the season ahead and if we can add Antony and one more player to the four players we've already signed, then I think the transfer window will have been a success imo. All the players that we've signed thus far are a stylistic fit for the way ten Hag wants to control the game both in the offensive and defensive transitions. And i'm looking forward to seeing how things develop under ten Hag's tutelage. And hopefully by the next summer window we'll be 3 or 4 new players away from mounting a serious title challenge.

 

[jokervn91]

If he was such a key target, why wait til the end of the window to bid? This is completely down to the Glazers not backing the club properly/having a clear plan for the window.

If we'd gone in for him in June (and actually had him integrated into the team during preseason and not 4/5 games into the league) we would have got him for a similar price to Martinez. Guaranteed. Ajax are not to blame in the slightest here.

Our main transfer season has just started right after the Brenford's humiliation. Before that they were still playing around with FDJ hoping that he stays in the end and wouldn't have to spend any kind of big money this summer.

 

[dasty]

I don't even want Antony at the pricing that he is quoted at, but there are some absolute idiots in here trying to make it seems as if Ajax is some divine club that could do no wrong while Man Utd and Antony are the ones at fault.

A contract is a contract, I get it, but real life is not completely black and white like a contract is. Antony is well within his rights to be pissed off about this situation because from the interview, you can see that he had given the club more than ample time to prepare for his departure, as he communicated his desire to leave half a year ago in February. Being rejected the opportunity to leave to a bigger club and league, despite an absurd offer being placed, there is no way any normal human being will be happy about it. That is without mentioning the fact that we will more than likely triple his wages. Man Utd had already expressed their desire to sign Antony months ago, and even placed a 60m offer a month ago and then a 80m offer two weeks ago, as well as the 90m offer yesterday. Shit on the club all you want because that is all you idiots do all day long here anyway, but we have been consistent in our efforts to sign him and meet Ajax's demands. They are the ones who kept moving the goalposts, and while they are well within their rights to do so as it is nothing illegal, it is not entirely Man Utd's fault that this transfer has dragged and reach this point.

If this stupid forum does not specify that it is a Man Utd fan forum I would have thought it is just a forum for the biggest moaners and whiners in the world with 0 thinking skills.

 

[africanspur]

Modric was one of the best midfielders in one of the best leagues in the world and even at the time everyone considered the fee that he went for to Real as a great deal. He threw a fit in 2011? 10 months later he was sold and he was coveted by many teams at the time.

Rooney as you said put in a transfer request for another reason compared to Antony altogether.

Tevez demanded a move at the end of 2010. He was brought in for British record for around 50m from memories. The next season he played like 15 games because he was suspended for his acting up against Bayern. 2012 sold to Juve for 10m or something?

Ndombele handed in two transfer request from memories. How is it going with once your record transfer nowadays?

Di Maria wanted out of United and his form dropped off a cliff as soon as that happened.

Now to the point. Antony is by far not a finished article like Kane, Modric or all of your examples. He's someone that can easily go Neres route that was sold for 15m EUR in a year time, because his form dips, doesn't want to play is a trouble in the dressing room or gets injured.

Ajax don't generate crazy amount of money playing in the Eredivisie, they are a selling club and it is what it is. Of course they are ran well and generate a profit, but it's not that easy to replace players that are hits (Antony for example) and they usually receive a lot more than they spend. Missing out on cashing in on a potential 100m asset is a very risky business considering also they are in rebuild phase this year - lost ETH along with many key players and they are far from dominant side winning the league 3 times since 2015.

So far they have started well, but this can also blow in their face pretty fast - Antony is their best player currently and clearly not happy. His value will decrease. His form might dip or play for himself or don't want to play at all. Come next year they might be without CL football (as Feyenord and PSV will probably also finish strong), without 100m offer on him to bank on with an unrest in the dressing room.

If we're talking about WC. Rafinha guaranteed a La liga transfer where he will start at the highest stage and if Antony doesn't get a transfer how will his chances improve at Ajax even if he forgets the transfer request and play well?

Your initial point was that you disagreed that players have put in transfer requests and then played well. You didn't condition that, you were just skeptical that it happened.

There have been multiple lists of exactly such players who have turned in transfer requests (whatever their reasons and whatever their ability levels may be), had their move refused and then put in an amazing season. You didn't ask whether there were players who put in transfer requests and then still performed well if they were amazing players (ie Kane /Modric/Suarez ) or weren't in exactly the same position as Anthony (Rooney/Zaha) or had a father figure manager (Vieria/Ronaldo) etc etc.

The point with Modric is that he did put in a transfer request,bad mouthed the club, went missing and then still put in an amazing season after and got his move anyway.

Tevez put in his transfer request,got rejected and then knuckled down. They won the league that season. Did something similar that next summer, played only 12 games that season, they won the league that season. Then played 34 PL games the season after, then signed for Juventus for 12 million in the final season of his contract.

From memory, Di Maria never wanted to come to Man Utd and played like it for pretty much the whole time he was here.

N'Dombele is by some distance our worst ever signing. However, he does not belong in this conversation. N'Dombele has been the same since he first arrived, lazy and failing to impress. He put in transfer request not because better clubs were in for him (if only!) but because he wasn't making it here. He was on the market last summer, where the giants of Lyon swooped in on loan....and decided not to take up their purchase option after a mediocre season. He was in the market again this summer, where again the giants of Napoli have taken him in loan, with an option for purchase. The smart money is on us unfortunately being in the same situation again next summer.

None of my comments have been about whether it's smart for Ajax to turn down such a bid (it's clearly an absolutely insane bid). It's been about the pervasive attitude on here by some that if someone is turned down for a transfer request, they just give up and down tools, despite multiple cases to the contrary. Ajax are still a selling club, in fact they sold a player to you literally this window.

If he doesn't get his move and then just gives up and lets his career go the way of Berahino (a player who did let the failure of his transfer affect his future career), he's going to be the party most affected. Not Ajax and not Man Utd. He'd do well to remember that. Carry on, put in another good season and he'll get his move.

 

[frostbite]

Those ungrateful cnuts from Ajax.

We paid them alot of money for VDB and Martinez, and willing to offer 90m for Antony, who only managed 8 goals 4 assist in Dutch league last season, what a fecking joke, so fecking average stats for fecking 90m forward player in a fecking shite farmers league. Feck off.

That's nearly €200m for 3 players, who shouldn't worth more than €120m combined. They should just take the money, thank us, and run.

Those fecking ridiculous cnuts.

It is silly that we continue with this. Why do we need to buy all our players from the Netherlands?

 

[groovyalbert]

I don't even want Antony at the pricing that he is quoted at, but there are some absolute idiots in here trying to make it seems as if Ajax is some divine club that could do no wrong while Man Utd and Antony are the ones at fault.

A contract is a contract, I get it, but real life is not completely black and white like a contract is. Antony is well within his rights to be pissed off about this situation because from the interview, you can see that he had given the club more than ample time to prepare for his departure, as he communicated his desire to leave half a year ago in February. Being rejected the opportunity to leave to a bigger club and league, despite an absurd offer being placed, there is no way any normal human being will be happy about it. That is without mentioning the fact that we will more than likely triple his wages. Man Utd had already expressed their desire to sign Antony months ago, and even placed a 60m offer a month ago and then a 80m offer two weeks ago, as well as the 90m offer yesterday. Shit on the club all you want because that is all you idiots do all day long here anyway, but we have been consistent in our efforts to sign him and meet Ajax's demands. They are the ones who kept moving the goalposts, and while they are well within their rights to do so as it is nothing illegal, it is not entirely Man Utd's fault that this transfer has dragged and reach this point.

If this stupid forum does not specify that it is a Man Utd fan forum I would have thought it is just a forum for the biggest moaners and whiners in the world with 0 thinking skills.

This is rubbish. When have we submitted a bid for Antony previous to now? He's been a name that's been circled around and clearly wanted by the manager, but if we'd been seriously in for him earlier in the window, we'd have definitely got this done. Everyone with half a brain cell on here was saying we needed to deal early with Ajax when they were selling the likes of Haller for huge fees, but our shortsighted and naive board (and that's being kind) couldn't see what was clearly going to happen.

If we hadn't lost our opening games, we wouldn't be in for Antony now. Simple. This pursuit is symptomatic of a scatter-gun, desperate approach by the club who have had no real vision this whole window, and had wrongly hoped FDJ would choose to come and are now literally having to pay the price for their failures.

Were you thinking the same about this forum when we were in for Arnautovic and Rabiot out of interest? It's insane how quickly fans are seemingly getting back behind our owners after one good result and some good potential signings

 

[GreatDane]

I'd rather play Garnacho more this season, instead breaking our bank to sign another unproven young talent.

Garnacho is LW, Antony is RW.

 

[gorky_utd]

Can we target Rafael leao for this kind of money? Sancho will be fine in the right. Just sick of this saga.

 

[dal]

He will be a bigger flop than Pepe.

 

[Stack]

I'd rather play Garnacho more this season, instead breaking our bank to sign another unproven young talent.

Im a huge fan of Antony, really want him here but Garnacho would be awesome if he got some game time

 

[Amir]

They have their own plans but these players like Antony - as he literally said - sign for them on the basis of it being a 2 year plan and then moving on. If Ajax then start blocking their moves, the next Antony will simply go to RB Leipzig or Dortmund or wherever else. That's ultimately what the problem is. Ajax boosted their stature so much the past 5 years partly because of their model of moving players on for fair prices when they want to leave, and the wheel turns for them. Them blocking Antony now goes against that, and will tell future prospects to either ensure a much more affordable release clause, or just pick elsewhere.

One case will change nothing, just like Dortmund haven't become less attractive because we were forced to wait another year for Sancho.

Anthony's two-year plan is nice, but it doesn't mean the club has to work accordingly.

 

[Amir]

Offering 90mil for a player who hasn't had explosive eredivisie season under his belt isn't stepping on Ajax. That is a very generous offer compared to what he has done on the pitch. We only offered I believe is ETH demanded this signing.

United fans were annoyed because Ronaldo asked to leave 'late' in early July and disrupted our plans, but apparently trying to take away Antony from Ajax in late August is fine. Yeah, they lost a lot of players and have started the season and have ambitions and all that, but it doesn't matter.

 

[hobbers]

If we'd made this offer, or even an offer 20-30m euros less, in June he'd be a United player.

But nah waste 3 months with half the transfer budget on ice for a player who doesnt want to play for us.

 

[KirkDuyt]

Those ungrateful cnuts from Ajax.

We paid them alot of money for VDB and Martinez, and willing to offer 90m for Antony, who only managed 8 goals 4 assist in Dutch league last season, what a fecking joke, so fecking average stats for fecking 90m forward player in a fecking shite farmers league. Feck off.

That's nearly €200m for 3 players, who shouldn't worth more than €120m combined. They should just take the money, thank us, and run.

Those fecking ridiculous cnuts.

To be fair to Ajax; they just don't really want to sell Antony. And United aren't forced to buy him.

 

[DJ_21]

Why are Ajax winding us up for? Haven’t we put in an offer of what they’ve said they wanted each time but yet they still reject!

 

[DJ_21]

To be fair we should wait til next summer where we would save €30m, because at best we're getting top 4 with or without him.

I think with him though we could even push for top 3. Chelsea are dropping of this season, don’t think spurs look all that great. Liverpool are miles of it but we know they’ll bounce back. Jury is still out for arsenal… looking good but can they carry it on. We’re still to hit top form yet.