Manchester United

Manchester United

Premier League • England

Man Utd star torn apart as pundit tips team-mates to be ‘frustrated’ with him; urges Ten Hag to find someone else

Antony, Diogo Dalot and Bruno Fernandes of Man Utd

A pundit has hit out at Antony for his style of play and told Erik ten Hag to find someone better at right wing, with the attacker leaving his own team-mates ‘frustrated’.

Man Utd raised eyebrows when spending £86million to sign Antony from Ajax last summer. Ajax had repeatedly told Man Utd that he was not for sale, but Ten Hag kept pushing the Red Devils to reach an agreement. They ended up bidding £86m, which is only £3m less than their transfer record, and Ajax simply could not refuse such a large fee.

The wide man immediately had huge pressure on his shoulders. When the transfer became official, he was the fourth-most expensive Premier League signing of all time, behind Jack Grealish, Romelu Lukaku and Paul Pogba.

Some pundits and fans were puzzled about Man Utd spending so much money on him. Club chiefs clearly wanted to bring in one of Ten Hag’s main targets, but the £86m fee was huge for someone who had only played in Europe for two years and had never appeared in one of the continent’s top-five leagues.

The Brazilian got off to a brilliant start with Man Utd, registering goals in his first three league appearances. However, he has not found the back of the net in the league since October.

Overall, his record stands at seven goals and one assist from 32 matches. This is not terrible for a player who is in his first season of English football, but it is clearly not enough for someone who cost an astronomical amount of money and is playing regularly in the Man Utd attack.

READ MORE: Fabrizio Romano confirms Man Utd have held ‘direct meeting’ over £31m Bundesliga swoop, but two transfer rivals emerge

Look at Marcus Rashford on the other flank, for example. He is enjoying the best season of his life, having bagged 27 goals in 46 games.

Admittedly, Rashford has far more experience of Prem football than Antony, so the latter must be given time to adapt. But it is clear that there is a big gulf in class between the two wingers.

Former striker annoyed by Antony style

Former Aston Villa striker Gabby Agbonlahor has criticised Antony for the way he plays and for his lack of goal contributions. The pundit thinks the 23-year-old will be leaving his own team-mates ‘frustrated’ and has explained why Ten Hag should ‘swap him’ out.

“When I watch Antony I look at his stats for starters. He’s played 16 Premier League games, three goals and zero assists,” Agbonlahor said on talkSPORT.

“He’s got zero assists because of the way he plays. I’ve watched him all season, I watched him last night against Brentford and he gets the ball and knows he can’t beat the full-back on the outside, so he pretends to go on the outside, goes inside and gives it away.

“If you’re a striker then you’re frustrated. Andy Cole came out and said that if he was a striker in the team he’d be so frustrated because you’re not going to get chances.

“I would swap him, any day of the week, for Antonio Valencia.

“His first season at Manchester United he got seven goals and 13 assists. The season after, six goals and 16 assists, then he went to right-back.

“That’s a winger who used to get the ball, a little step-over, pace and power and clip it in. Strikers knew when it was coming in.

Winger accused of ‘taking himself on’

“Antony gets it and does his little tricks. Yesterday [versus Brentford], there was one incident where he took himself on – he didn’t take the defender on, he took himself on!

“He takes the ball, does a little shimmy and the defender is just stood there, like ‘go on then, take me on’.”

One reason fans enjoy watching Antony so much is that he plays with flair and has plenty of tricks in his repertoire. But as Agbonlahor points out, he is using skills too often and is not actually being direct enough.

Ten Hag must get the wide man to work on his decision-making. He needs to be more direct a lot of the time and not slow down Man Utd’s attacks so much.

This will come with more matches and experience, as Antony gets used to English football and develops his own game. But right now, he is not performing to the standard that is expected of a Man Utd forward.

Meanwhile, Friday’s Transfer Gossip claims Man Utd have identified a former Arsenal player as a shock target.