Even though he hasn't been in good form over the past two seasons, Antony still naturally has a starting spot in the Man Utd squad. So what is the real reason?
MU has no alternative plan
It can be said that the figure of 100 million pounds is too high compared to his actual talent. Spending the above amount of money on Antony caused Man Utd to receive a lot of criticism as well as sarcasm from fans and experts.
At the present time, even though he is not playing very well at Old Trafford, Antony's position is still as solid as a rock, simply because other than him, the Red Devils have no quality replacement plan. Facundo Pellistri always shows immaturity every time he plays, while Marcus Rashford also appears uncomfortable when placed in this position.
With 0 goals and 0 assists this season, many people may criticize Erik Ten Hag for being too consistent with using the former Ajax player in the starting lineup. However, if he doesn't choose Antony, who will the Dutch strategist choose now?
Ten Hag's ego is too high
The fault of bringing the Brazilian star to Old Trafford largely lies with Ten Hag as he was determined to bring Antony back after working together at Ajax. However, the Dutch strategist could not predict that his student would have difficulty adapting to the Premier League style of play.
It's difficult for Ten Hag to admit his mistake when everyone knows the former captain of Ajax is a person with a very high ego. Previously, people had seen the way the 53-year-old coach showed his power when he was ready to strip Harry Maguire of the captaincy or was ready to push Jadon Sancho and Cristiano Ronaldo out of the plan when they expressed dissatisfaction.
In case Ten Hag had to buy another player and put Antony on the bench, it would be no more than a slap to his pride and a confirmation of his wrong purchasing strategy. This strategist was born in 1970.
The Dutch captain pushed Antony to the bench in two matches against Luton and Newcastle to appease public opinion, however, after the disappointing results against The Magpies, he had a reason to bring the Brazilian player back. starting lineup again. That shows that Ten Hag is blindly trying to wait for Antony to shine to prove he is not wrong in this deal.
