Antony’s agents in talks with Man Utd as they look to ‘accelerate and close’ €60m transfer
Antony #Antony
Ajax star Antony’s representatives are reportedly in talks with Manchester United to ‘accelerate, and perhaps close’ a deal for the forward to move to Old Trafford.
United have been linked with Antony ever since Erik ten Hag first became linked with the Red Devils job.
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And now Goal claim the 22-year-old could be the first signing of the Ten Hag era as talks are ongoing over a €60m deal.
It’s thought that Antony’s future will be ‘defined in the coming days’ with his representatives ‘already in Europe’.
The report adds that ‘the purpose of the trip is to accelerate, and perhaps close, the possible deal between the player and the Manchester club’.
It’s thought that United’s ‘good relationship with the Ajax board’ is a bonus in negotiations, while they also have the ‘trump card’ of having Ten Hag as manager, under whom Antony thrived for the Dutch club last season, with 12 goals and ten assists in 33 games.
Antony joined Ajax from Sao Paulo in the summer of 2020 for £14m and the Brazilian side will reportedly be due 20 per cent of the profit made on any sale this summer.
Meanwhile, United have reportedly made an opening bid of €80m to lure Frenkie de Jong from Barcelona.
Ten Hag has made De Jong, with whom like Antony he worked with at Ajax, one of his priority signings this summer as he starts a rebuild at Old Trafford.
As per the report, Barcelona ‘urgently needs to reduce its wage bill to bring in new players’ and the fee for De Jong would ‘allow some freedom to go to the next market’.
It’s claimed United have made an opening offer amounting to €80m, with a €60m down payment and a further €20m in potential bonuses.
Barcelona are said to be ‘seriously studying the proposal’.
Ten Hag has told De Jong he will be ‘his star at United’ and that ‘the entire game will revolve around him, being the reference in midfield’ – he will be the ‘conductor of the new project’.