Antony is enjoying his football again over in Spain as his loan spell at Real Betis so far has seen him sort of find himself again despite being there for just over a month.
In that time though, Antony has 2 goals, 2 assists and a couple of man of the match awards to go with it and is one of the league's best players at the moment outshining fellow Brazilians Vini Jr and Raphinha and a whole host of other stars.
Not so long ago, United boss Ruben Amorim came out and said that perhaps this had to do with the physical aspect of the player and/or league.
Ruben Amorim on Antony:
“We talk about some players like Antony who is much better in Spain, there are many factors…
…but I guarantee you it's linked to the PHYSICAL aspect" - speaking to Rio Ferdinand.
This has caused the player's agent to come out and back Antony while having a go at his former manager citing things like not enough game time and Amorim sort of disrespecting La Liga with his comments.
Júnior Pedroso (Antony's agent):
"We respect Ruben Amorim's opinion, but we do not agree with his point of view at all. Attributing Antony's lack of success at Manchester United to a physical factor is a superficial analysis that does not correspond to reality.
The truth is that Antony has not been given enough confidence to play his best football. Of Amorim's 15 games in charge of Manchester United, he has only used Antony in 9 of them, for a total of 252 minutes played. This represents only 18.6% of the total possible minutes. How can you judge an athlete in these conditions?
Perhaps it was not his intention, but his statement devalues La Liga when Spanish football has one of the most competitive leagues in the world, with teams that constantly participate in the final stages of the Champions League and the Europa League.
The reality is that Antony, since arriving at Real Betis, has become one of the best players in the team and in the competition itself, showing all his potential when given the right conditions to play his football. This shows that the problem was not physical, but related to the context and the way he was treated in Manchester.
Many players who fail at United have success at other clubs, which raises the question of whether the problem really lies with the players" via UtdXclusive.
What I do agree with is in him saying that Amorim maybe devaluing La Liga as it is one of the best and toughest leagues in the world. One may not need to be as physical as in the Premier League but that doesn't mean it isn't physical at all. You also have to be quite technical and play with everything you've got otherwise their fans will let you know about it as you know how hounding the Spanish can be.
But this is where the problem with what he's saying comes in.
Antony may not have been given as much of a chance as he would've liked under Amorim but under Erik ten Hag, he was given ample opportunities. However, even the Dutchman thought better of using him in what turned out to be his final season at the club as the former United boss used the Brazilian in just 5 games this season before he was sacked.
So why did he think to not use a player he spent £80m on?
Perhaps it was to do with how Antony performed previously when he first joined the club.
In his 2-and-a-half years at Old Trafford, the winger showed very little to suggest he was going to be the player he was at Ajax who was very promising. That league isn't one of the strongest so maybe that was a reason as to why Antony played well in the Netherlands?
These are the Brazilian's numbers under the manager who pretty much made him and was the one who brought him to Old Trafford.
Antony under Erik ten Hag:
Games - 87
Goals - 12
Assists - 5
Minutes played - 5183
3 of those 12 goals came in his first three appearances for United. His form then was very similar to what we're seeing him do now at Betis in which he seems to be involved with something going forward in almost every match.
They better be careful because we have seen this before.
This isn't me hating on Antony or think he's completely useless as I hope he does well. He was also a player that I was really excited about when we signed him but unfortunately these things sometimes don't work out.
When Pedroso says that Antony is "showing all his potential when given the right conditions to play his football", this just says to me he is a player who can only play in a certain system and do certain things. He cannot adapt his game to something that Amorim wants or indeed what ten Hag wanted earlier this season.
Whenever those comments get attached to a player, I always think that maybe they are only suitable to play in certain teams and countries.
As for saying that others who've left United go on to have success elsewhere, what does he mean by success? Sure you can say that for one, these players are getting more game time and that secondly, they are performing a lot better than at United but I mean no offense to them when I say that hardly any of them went to the biggest clubs in the world and nor are they playing absolutely brilliantly to a point where we might second guess ourselves for letting them go.
This makes me want to go back to that famous 'football heritage' quote by Jose Mourinho.
When speaking about players who left United, he said: "See where they play, how they play, if they play."
That is exactly it with those we've let go off recently too,
So while it's great that Antony is doing well for himself there's no part of me that wishes we kept him. Whilst at United, he was far too frustrating and inconsistent and many wanted him gone because he simply wasn't good enough.
A month later he's doing well in Spain and all of a sudden he's prime Neymar?!
Let's just see how he's done at the end of the season.
Background Image: Antony and Ruben Amorim | Creator: OLI SCARFF | Credit: AFP via Getty Images Copyright: AFP or licensors via Goal