Ajax boss Alfred Schreuder appears to have performed a dramatic u-turn on Antony ’s dramatic exit for Manchester United having now suggested that his move was “perfect”.
The Brazilian completed a huge £84m switch to Old Trafford over the closing days of the summer transfer window after the Red Devils finally made a breakthrough in negotiations with the Dutch giants. However, it still wasn’t so straightforward. Antony eventually went on strike to force through a move with former boss Schreuder slamming the winger’s behaviour as “strange” and “bad”.
With a few weeks now having passed since Antony quit the reigning Eredivisie champions, the Ajax boss has had another say on the transfer and, whilst he has admitted the circumstances of the move still wrangle, he can understand why the Brazilian chose to leave for Old Trafford.
Speaking to TNT Sports ahead of his side’s Champions League showdown with Man Utd’s fierce rivals Liverpool, Schreuder said: “That [Antony’s transfer] was, for me, disappointing, the way it happened. I spoke about it.
“But of course he can make this transfer. It’s also the philosophy of Ajax, they play two or three years good and they can go. So for him it’s a perfect next step, it can be very good. But the moment in that window was, for us, not good.
“Of course, I talked a lot with him. He’s a great guy, he’s a great person. And of course he told me also that he wanted to leave.
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“Because he comes from Brazil to Ajax to make a next step. And that’s also what we want. We also want players to come sometimes to take a next step. That’s good for both. But the timing was, for us, not perfect.”
Antony of course enjoyed a dream start to life as a Man Utd player having scored on his debut for the Red Devils in their victory over Arsenal. The 22-year-old could not add to that in the club’s Europa League opener against Real Sociedad but will be hoping to have an impact once again as Erik ten Hag’s men take on Sheriff in their second group game on Thursday evening.
Despite that, he might have actually been representing Chelsea instead with Blues scout Piet de Visser recently revealing that he was impressed with the young Brazilian during his time with Sao Paulo.
He said: “Together with Hans van der Zee we saw him for the first time at Brazil’s youth ranks and we were both charmed by him. That was a few years ago, just before he went to Ajax.
“I thought he had to make an intermediate step and then Hans suggested Ajax. And then we would take him right from Ajax.
“We couldn’t get him, I would have wanted him. He’s a boy with poison in his backside. He sometimes crosses the line, but he comes from the favela, doesn’t he?”
