Antony's £86m move to Man Utd described as 'madness' with two other deals named

After a tough start to his Manchester United career, Antony’s £86 million move to Old Trafford has been described as ‘madness’.

In the summer, after weeks of negotiations between United and Ajax, the deal was finally agreed for Antony to make the move to Manchester.

With big money comes huge expectations, although Antony has shown that he has the skills and qualities to justify his £86 million fee, the Brazilian is yet to produce his best football.

Now, PSV Eindhoven chief Marcel Brands has questioned United’s deal whilst comparing it with other Premier League transfers.

He told Voetbalprimeur: “If you compare it with transfers that were realistic, such as that of Gabriel Jesus from Manchester City to Arsenal: that was also around that rate.

“Those are normal amounts. I think everyone in football knows that Antony was a madness.

“I think Raphinha [who joined Barcelona for around £55million] is an even better player than Antony, but he left for much less.”

So far this season, Antony has made 29 appearances for United across all competitions, scoring seven goals and providing one assist.

The 23-year-old recently spoke about how United boss Erik ten Hag responded after last week’s 7-0 beating by arch-rivals Liverpool.

As per Metro, he said: “We came from an extremely hurting defeat. It was hard to sleep that day, but in football you can’t cry about the past.

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“We know it’s harder for the manager as he’s the face of the club giving interviews all the time. It was hard for him, for all of us and we take it as a lesson.

“He was hard on us in the right way at the right time. But we are all facing what’s ahead of us now. The group is united and the fans are on our side. That’s the most important thing.”

Antony added: “We know that result is never acceptable. It was important to show a reaction. I was very happy to see the fans showing their support.”