Real Betis started this summer by telling their local media all about their plans to sign Antony on the cheap. Having had the Brazilian on loan from Manchester United for the second half of last season, Betis’ plan was to drag the entire situation out until the end of the window so they could then pressure the Premier League loan into agreeing a poor deal for them.
When Antony was sent to the ‘bomb squad’, Betis didn’t feel any need to hurry. That his agents didn’t try to push the situation is odd given the 25-year-old has World Cup ambitions and he’ll now into September without having had a preseason or playing a minute of football.
Nevertheless, Betis held firm and then sent a delegation to Manchester at the beginning of this week. Betis CEO Ramón Alarcón, sporting director Manu Fajardo and technical secretary Álvaro Ladrón de Guevara boarded a plane to start having face to face talks with Manchester United… in the final week of August.
Alarcón left midweek, leaving the other two to try and sort it out. Then late on Friday evening, a story was leaked to multiple UK media outlets that a deal had been agreed between the two clubs and Antony had been given permission to travel.
There were no immediate reports in Seville, though. And that was odd. Diario de Sevilla, ABC Sevilla and others have good connections at Betis and would have been on top of such a positive story very quickly.
Then as time went on, Betis themselves made it known there was no final agreement. More than that, they stated the offer had been withdrawn.
That offer was thought to be €25m plus 50% of the profit from a future sale. On Friday morning it had been reported in the Seville media that €25m was the absolute limit.
[ABC Sevilla](https://www.abc.es/deportes/alfinaldelapalmera/fichajes-betis/betis-congela-oferta-acuerdo-united-antony-cantidades-20250830132742-nts.html) claim that after there was a rough agreement on the €25m, Manchester United asked Betis to cover €6m which is believed to be owed to Antony and his agents.
That’s largely related to his final two years of contract at Old Trafford, and that he’d earn less at Betis. Given ABC Sevilla’s report mentions the agents, part of it may also relate to commissions.
Manchester United’s plan to put the pressure on Betis, by leaking an agreed deal, quickly backfired. ABC’s report says Betis won’t resubmit their offer again until Antony and the Red Devils have agreed something on the €6m. They don’t even want to be involved in talks regarding that.
Whilst they still want the winger, and Manuel Pellegrini said that publicly in a Saturday press conference, Betis are starting to look at other options.
Over at [Estadio Deportivo](https://www.estadiodeportivo.com/futbol/betis/frenazo-del-betis-con-antony-final-del-mercado-fichajes-para-una-plantilla-muy-corta-20250830-509816.html), the local sports newspaper, it’s stated: _‘Just when the negotiation was considered finalised, everything went up in smoke again due to a small print regarding amounts owed to the Canarinho international that Old Trafford is trying to foist on the Verdiblancos, a position they are, quite literally, incapable of assuming. Everyone is confident that it will eventually happen, but the news as of August 30th is that there is still no agreement.’_
That insistence that they’re not simply pleading transfer poverty, but literally cannot pay more, may be true if related to tough La Liga financial rules, yet Betis have signed seven players this summer for around €40m.
Two of those seven, Junior Firpo and Pau Lopez, were free agents. If these final Antony negotiations had been held weeks, even months, ago then there would have been the financial wiggle room to cover at least part of that €6m.