Antony breaks silence on “difficult” Manchester United spell after failing 13-word objective

Antony has broken his silence on his “difficult” time at Manchester United as he spends the rest of the season on loan at Real Betis.

Manchester United announced last week that Antony has joined Real Betis on loan, with game time under Ruben Amorim expected to be limited.

Since the Portuguese manager’s arrival, the 24-year-old has made only a handful of appearances, and it soon became clear that he wouldn’t play a key role in the squad.

With the summer transfer window on the horizon, United hopes the loan move will increase Antony’s market value, while Betis provides him with a platform to showcase his ability.

The Brazilian winger had a clear objective ahead of the 2024/25 campaign – to score and assist more goals for United. But it was something that he was unable to do.

“Rest assured, you’ll hear the name Antony in relation to goals and assists,” he said in August last year before the start of another underwhelming campaign.

Antony breaks silence on United spell

In La Liga, the 24-year-old is now hoping to rebuild his career after what he described as a “difficult time” at United and has started well after receiving Man of the Match on his debut.

“I had a difficult time,” admitted Antony when speaking to Spanish outlet ABC Sevilla this week.

“But we have to respect the process. My idea is to play everything and contribute with goals and assists, enjoy every day and help the team, the coach and everyone.”

Antony had several clubs interested in him during the January window but the talks he had with Manuel Pellegrini were “very good” and helped convince him of the move to Betis.

He continued: “Yes, I had proposals, but when Betis appeared, I felt a certainty in my heart that it was here.

“I hope to achieve many goals and a thousand things. I feel very calm, confident, I’m very happy. I feel incredible, now I have to work every day to be at my best and play for the team.

“I spoke to the coach, the conversation was very good. I was also very calm because of that, in training and in the match, I was very calm because the conversation was very good.

“He gave me a lot of confidence and everyone knows the experience he has.”

The winger has already started strongly in Spain and will be hoping to get another good performance under his belt when Betis face Celta Vigo on the weekend.

Antony is one of three senior first-team players to have been loaned out, with Marcus Rashford, and Tyrell Malacia also departing to Aston Villa and PSV Eindhoven respectively.

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Academy players such as Ethan Wheatley, Dan Gore and Ethan Ennis also headed out on loan to secure first-team action away from Old Trafford.

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