Manchester United have been told that they may need to absorb a significant financial loss to offload £82million disappointment Antony. The Brazilian has not lived up to his substantial price tag at Old Trafford since his transfer from Ajax in 2022, but has experienced a swift improvement in form after being loaned to Real Betis in January.
Antony has netted four goals and provided four assists in 11 games for the La Liga side. However, reports suggest that United are still keen to part ways with him this summer as they plan to rebuild under Ruben Amorim. Betis are understood to be eager to retain the 25-year-old winger, preferably through an extended loan deal.
United have been advised that they will need to accept a loss if they wish to permanently remove Antony from their books, with two years remaining on his contract. Former Red Devils goalkeeper Ben Foster claims that potential buyers would be hesitant to match his current salary, believed to be around £200,000 per week.
The ex-England and Wrexham keeper also suggested that Antony would be unwilling to accept a wage reduction to facilitate a move. Foster further speculated that it could require a payout exceeding £10million to convince the player to depart, following his criticism of Antony's subpar performances for United.
"With Antony, the rumours are that he's earning around £200,000 a week, and there aren't many teams globally that can afford him," he said on his Fozcast podcast. "Antony has two or three years remaining on his contract at Man United and is unlikely to accept a wage cut by joining one of these teams offering £100,000 a week.
"No matter how wealthy you are, if someone tells you 'Your salary will be halved next year', it stings. What's likely to happen is if a club like Real Betis did sign him, Antony would tell Manchester United 'I'm willing to transfer to Real Betis. However, I still have two or three years left on my contract, which is worth £20m or £30m'.
"(He would then say) 'You need to pay me 40 per cent of that'. It's a bitter pill to swallow when you've invested so much in a player...and he's delivered absolutely nothing for Manchester United. They've loaned him out, and suddenly he starts performing."
Antony only clocked up 135 minutes of Premier League action under both Erik ten Hag and Amorim this season before making the move to Betis. Amorim recently suggested that he struggled in the English top flight due to the league's "physicality".
In a conversation with Rio Ferdinand on TNT Sports, he said: "When you play against any team in England, the physicality is there. If you don't have physicality, you will struggle a lot. Antony is so much better now in Spain. It's [because of] a lot of factors but I guarantee you it's physicality."
Antony has confessed that he is relishing his stint at Betis and feels rejuvenated under the guidance of former Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini, stating he has a "smile on his face again" and has "found himself".
"I've had a great time in Manchester too, I won two titles and I'm very grateful,' he shared with AS. "But when I say that I've found myself here, I'm happy, the people are like us in Brazil. The sun helps a lot. I'm very happy here. I wake up every day with a smile and that's very important."
He added: "I have a lot of friends who played here and they left me very calm so that I could sign here. I was sure in my heart that coming here was the best decision for me. I hope to continue like this.".