Manchester United have been given fresh hope of prising Antony away from Ajax - after Gerry Hamstra confirmed that the Dutch giants view Francisco Conceicao as the coveted forward's long-term replacement.
Erik ten Hag is an avid admirer of Antony and is keen to work with the versatile star again at Old Trafford. The 22-year-old clocked up 22 goal contributions for Ajax in 32 appearances last term and is sold on the idea of a megabucks move to the Premier League.
It was claimed earlier this month that United had submitted an opening bid worth €60million (£51m) for the winger, but it was swiftly rebuffed by Ajax, who are thought to be holding out for a sum of around €80m (£68m) for their prized attacking asset.
Despite failing to agree terms, United are still hoping to bring Antony to Manchester this summer - and the Old Trafford hierarchy will be enthused by Hamstra's latest comments on Conceicao. The Porto forward is on the cusp of a move to Amsterdam, and Hamstra has confirmed that the 19-year-old is being viewed as Antony's long-term successor.
The Ajax technical manager told Het Parool: “On the one hand, you want to have immediately deployable players if you lose Champions League-worthy players. But at Ajax we also continue to think about the long term. How fast that happens depends on several factors.
“I can imagine that that goes a little faster with a Portuguese or European than with a boy from South America. So, Conceicao is another example of bringing the successor, in this case Antony, into your selection. We now want to keep this group together. I assume that no one leaves this core anymore. [But] of course, you can never say never, I’ve learned that by now.”
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Manchester United are expected to push for attacking reinforcements in the coming weeks after it was revealed that Cristiano Ronaldo would like to quit the club this summer, so revisiting a move for Antony would make sense.
United will hope they can make another transfer breakthrough with Ten Hag's old club after they finally came to an agreement over a deal for Lisandro Martinez last week.
Ajax were determined to hold onto the sought-after defender, but finally accepted a package worth £55.3m after weeks of talks with the Old Trafford hierarchy.
Martinez - who was identified as a key transfer target after impressing in Ten Hag's Ajax team - is set to become United's third summer signing following the captures of Tyrell Malacia and Christian Eriksen.
