Man Utd's true valuation of Antony before deciding to spend £85m on him genuinely looks like a typo

Manchester United once valued Antony at a significantly lower amount than the fee they paid for him.

Antony, 24, joined United from Ajax for a reported £86m in the summer of 2022, while Erik ten Hag was manager of the club.

And like any big-money signing, with his hefty price tag came great expectations from supporters.

However, things have not gone as well as the Brazilian may have liked, having registered just 12 goals and five assists in 96 appearances for the Red Devils.

This season he has found himself out of favour with United head coach Ruben Amorim, with the Brazilian playing just 14 games mostly coming on as a substitute.

Now, it looks like his time at the club may be up as La Liga outfit Real Betis have been heavily linked with a move for the winger. On Monday, journalist Fabrizio Romano issued an update on Antony’s future.

"Antony to Real Betis, here we go!” he wrote on X. “Verbal agreement in place between all parties with Man United too. Documents being checked; then time for travel and medical tests. United will let him leave on loan deal with 𝐧𝐨 buy clause. He’ll be formally back to United in June."

Although the deal will be a loan, his future will likely be away from the Premier League. Given the fact he is the second-most expensive United signing of all time - behind Paul Pogba - it is fair to say his time at the club has been hugely disappointing.

Antony is set to leave Manchester United on loan (Credit:Getty)

And fans will no doubt be further annoyed to hear that the club initially valued the player much lower than the £86m fee they ended up paying.

According to The Telegraph, “during the latter stages of Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s reign” at the club, Antony was “valued” to be worth around “£25-30m by the club’s scouts”.

Then at the start of the summer of 2022, with Erik ten Hag at the helm, United set “an upper-price ceiling" of "€60 million (£55 million at the time)”.

However, Ten Hag, 54, who had previously worked with Antony at Ajax “stressed how important” the Brazilian was to his future plans.

And after United lost the opening two games of the 2022/23 season - against Brighton and Brentford - they shelled out the eye-watering €95m (£86m) fee – around €40m (£33.8m) more than the club’s initial valuation.