Chelsea scout Piet de Visser has revealed that the Blues attempted to sign Antony long before his move to Manchester United this summer, but missed out on his signature as he opted to join Ajax instead.
Antony joined the Red Devils this summer for an initial fee of £82million, which could climb past £86m with add-ons, having made a name for himself for Ajax over two seasons in the Eredivisie after joining from Sao Paulo in 2020.
But it has now been revealed that Chelsea were keen on signing the 22-year-old before losing out to the Dutch outfit, in what has very much become their loss and United’s gain ever since.
De Visser, who was speaking via VoetbalPrimeur, was watching the talented winger alongside former Ajax head scout Hans van der Zee. 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?”
At the time of scouting, Antony was featuring for Sao Paulo having made his first team debut as an 18-year-old, before racking up a total of six goals in 52 appearances in all competitions ahead of signing a five-year-deal with Ajax for an initial £13m in July 2020.
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And it didn’t take him long to adapt to European football as he recorded 46 appearances in all competitions during his first campaign. By the end of his two full seasons in Amsterdam, the Brazilian had racked up 24 goals and 22 assists in 84 games across all competitions.
That was also complemented by three trophies with Ajax. In 2020-21, he helped Erik ten Hag’s side win the league and cup double, before adding a second Eredivisie title last season alongside fellow Man United recruit Lisandro Martinez.
He started the 2022/23 campaign in fine form once more for Ajax with two goals and two assists in the first three games of the season, before eventually sealing his big money move to the north west last month, where he hit the ground running with a goal on his debut against Arsenal.
But should he have signed for Chelsea two years ago, his story would have been very different. In fact, going by Chelsea’s club strategy, it is incredibly likely that he would have been loaned out for the majority of his time at the club, with very few first team appearances to his name.
Moving to Ajax instead proved to be a stroke of genius for all involved, because being rewarded with first team opportunities as a 20-year-old from the very start of his career in the Netherlands has turned him into the player he is today, whilst Ajax made a huge profit off his sale.
Chelsea instead signed Hakim Ziyech from the Dutch outfit that summer, but ultimately his transfer has not worked out as planned after failing to hold down a consistent starting spot at Stamford Bridge. In the two years since the Blues missed out on Antony, it has been proven just how big of an opportunity they missed out on.
