Manchester United have been handed a major headache regarding the sale of Brazilian winger Antony as Real Betis cannot afford the deal.
The Spanish club took Antony on loan in the second half of last season, and he performed well in his stint in La Liga.
According to BBC Sport, the 25-year-old had been favouring the prospect of returning to Betis in a permanent transfer, but this now seems to have collapsed.
The BBC’s report quotes an official Betis statement, with the club clearly stating that they cannot afford the transfer fee for Antony, nor the player’s wages.
“Betis has retired its offer. Betis cannot afford a transfer fee, nor the amounts the player is supposed to receive,” their statement read.
Antony looks on from the Real Betis bench
Antony looks on from the Real Betis bench (Photo by Denis Doyle/Getty Images)
What next for Antony as Real Betis transfer looks dead?
It remains to be seen if there’s any way to revive this deal, but it certainly doesn’t look too promising, which will be a huge source of frustration for Man United.
Antony has been a major flop during his time at Old Trafford and they could do with making a few more sales as Ruben Amorim continues to revamp this squad.
The Red Devils have spent huge amounts of money on a number of failed signings in recent years, so they’d do well to at least make some of that money back by offloading flops like Antony.
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Who else could sign Antony?
Antony wanted to join Betis again, but one imagines there’ll be other reasonable offers that come in before Monday’s transfer deadline.
CaughtOffside were previously informed about some interest from Atletico Madrid, Benfica, Brighton and RB Leipzig, but these never got anywhere near as advanced as Betis.
There could now be another chance for these clubs to get involved, though, so they could be the names to watch out for in the next 24 hours or so.