A trip to the south of Spain can sort anyone out, even Manchester United’s Antony.
The Brazilian winger moved to Sevilla in January, joining Real Betis on loan after a disastrous two-and-a-half year stint at Old Trafford.
Having recorded just 12 goals and five assists in 96 games since joining from Ajax for a massive £81million, Antony has dramatically improved his rate of production since leaving.
In just ten games for Betis, the 25-year-old has four goals and four assists, helping Manuel Pellegrini’s side re-establish their charge for European football.
Asked by the club’s YouTube channel why he’s improved so dramatically, Antony responded. “The sun helps me a lot. The city is better.
“I’m very happy here, as I said. Every day I wake up smiling and I’m going to sleep smiling. That’s the most important thing for me.”
Antony initially joined United in 2022, following Erik ten Hag over from Ajax.
The winger had 21 goals and 19 assists in 74 games for the Eredivisie giants, a decent return, but certainly not enough to make him the second-most expensive player in the Red Devils history.
United continually upped their offers throughout the summer, and even then-Ajax coach Alfred Schreuder was stunned by the figures cropping up.
“That’s an absurd amount of money,” he said at the time.
“Whether we can also refuse a higher offer, that’s not up to me. Then you have to be with the management of the club.
“But I don’t want to lose him, and I think Ajax is still reasonably close to cash [financial stability].”
Real BetisAntony could only smile when talking about his start at Betis[/caption]
Despite the poor deal, United continued to back Ten Hag in extraordinary fashion, bringing in his former players Lisandro Martinez, Andre Onana, Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui before sacking him at the start of the current campaign.
As for Antony, he’s only signed with Betis until the summer, so may well have to say goodbye to the beautiful weather in Sevilla.
However, it’s unlikely that he’ll return to Manchester for the long-term, with club co-owner Jim Ratcliffe recently listing him among the players United need to ‘sort out’.
In an interview with BBC Sport, the Monaco-based British billionaire said: “If you look at the players we are buying this summer, that we didn’t buy, we’re buying Antony, we’re buying Casemiro, we’re buying Onana, we’re buying [Rasmus]Hojlund, we’re buying [Jadon] Sancho.
“These are all things from the past, whether we like it or not, we’ve inherited those things and have to sort that out.
“For Sancho, who now plays for Chelsea and we pay half his wages, we’re paying £17million to buy him in the summer.”
