Antony of Real Betis celebrates
Antony is on loan at Real Betis from Manchester United, who are short of wingers now that Amad is injured
Ruben Amorim will need to explore all available options with Amad unable to play for Man United through injury, and one of those options could be Antony.
With a visit to Tottenham Hotspur less than 24 hours away, Amad revealed a devastating injury setback. The 21-year-old is out 'for some time', with prior reports explaining that he has suffered ankle ligament damage.
With nine goals and six assists already this season, the injured talent has been one of Amorim's most reliable options to call upon this season. Now the manager will have to find an alternative means of scoring and creating goals, even if it means reneging on Man United's recent winter transfer business.
Even though it was the manager's wish, the club were unable to sign an attacker before the window closed. They did this whilst also loaning both Marcus Rashford to Aston Villa and Antony to Real Betis.
The former was firmly outside Amorim's matchday plans since mid-December, though the latter actually moved against his wishes.
He said: "I want to keep my players. I’m focused on this, these players. I don’t know what is going to happen. This window, we’ll see, but he did a good job [against Southampton]."
But the temporary switch was confirmed on January 25, agreed until the end of the current season. The 24-year-old was in great need of a confidence boost having arrived as one of Erik ten Hag's most trusted recruits under the weight of an £86.3m transfer fee in 2022, then failed to live up expectations with only 12 goals in almost a century of appearances.
Since arriving in Spain he has found that new lease of life. Antony was awarded man of the match on debut, the week after netted his first goal in a 3-2 defeat to Celta Vigo then followed with another strike - a superb curler in the Europa League vs Gent.
"When you are happy, everything comes naturally," the Brazilian commented afterwards, as quoted by El Des Marque. "My head, my heart, told me that I was going to be happy here."
His agent has followed this statement with similar thoughts. Junior Pedroso added: "This [early success] is possible because Antony is so, so happy. He's really happy and you can feel it on and off the pitch.
"He's been able to adapt very quickly and that's absolutely crucial - that means we've been able to pick the best option possible."
Yet only three matches into his Betis career, might it be time for it to already come to an end? Man United may have been backed into a corner with Amad's injury, leaving little choice in the way of right-sided wingers at Amorim's disposal.
As MEN Sport understands, there is no purchase option for Antony to join the La Liga club permanently at the end of his loan stint. He is therefore certainly going to return, it just remains unknown if there is actually a recall option agreed by the two clubs.
If Man United and Betis have an agreement, the Premier League's rules stipulate that loaned players can be recalled at any time, though no fewer than the minimum days required of a short term loan.
That total stands at 28 days after the agreement was set in place, therefore Man United would not be able to recall Antony until Saturday, February 22.