{"id":616821,"date":"2022-08-26T06:22:15","date_gmt":"2022-08-26T10:22:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/?p=616821"},"modified":"2022-08-26T06:22:15","modified_gmt":"2022-08-26T10:22:15","slug":"manchester-united-blow-ajax-star-antony","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2022\/08\/26\/manchester-united-blow-ajax-star-antony\/","title":{"rendered":"Manchester United Suffer Blow in Pursuit of \u2018World-Class\u2019 International Attacker"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2022\/08\/25\/manchester-united-start-process-forward\/\" target=\"_self\">Manchester United<\/a> have suffered a blow in their pursuit of \u201c<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ligaptdadepre_\/status\/1558808032129290240?s=21&amp;t=dPnW0Y8O0Zlks008RTdn_g\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">world-class<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u201d Brazilian international attacker Antony. According to <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/FabrizioRomano\/status\/1562860366610124800\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Fabrizio Romano<\/a>, Ajax head coach Alfred Schreuder has told De Telegraaf sports journalist Mike Verweij: \u201cWe don&#8217;t have a deadline. But I am assuming Antony will stay. He has a contract at Ajax.&#8221; <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">According to respected journalist\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jonathanshrager\/status\/1561001868540620800?s=21&amp;t=pTFgSAaPVjX9h94ExqkwHA\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Jonathan Shrager<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">, the Dutch giants are willing to sell their Brazilian star, but only for \u00a384 million.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Antony: Manchester United Suffer Setback in Pursuit of \u2018World-Class\u2019 Attacker<\/h2>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Ajax manager Schreuder on Antony and Man Utd deal: \u201cAntony is not training with the group, but I do see him every day. Nothing has changed since last Sunday\u201d. \ud83d\udea8\ud83c\udde7\ud83c\uddf7 <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Ajax?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#Ajax<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe don&#39;t have a deadline. But I am assuming Antony will stay. He has a contract at Ajax\u201d, told <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MikeVerweij?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@MikeVerweij<\/a>. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/BibVSBlTjk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/BibVSBlTjk<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/FabrizioRomano\/status\/1562860366610124800?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">August 25, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>Schreuder Determined to Keep Brazilian Attacker<\/h3>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The attacker has refused to take part in first-team training, with the head coach confirming that: &#8220;Antony is not training with the group, but I do see him every day. Nothing has changed since last Sunday.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The Ajax squad has been decimated since last season following the departure of\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2022\/08\/24\/manchester-united-harry-maguire-rotate-defenders\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Erik ten Hag<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0and several key players from last season&#8217;s title-winning team. The Dutch champions have rejected the Red Devils&#8217; opening bid of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.express.co.uk\/sport\/football\/1657630\/Man-Utd-transfer-news-Antony-Ajax-Chelsea-Premier-league-latest-gossip\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u00a367.5 million<\/a>, with the club asking for \u00a384 million if they are to part with another star player.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">When asked about Antony&#8217;s future during his <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2022\/08\/25\/uefa-champions-league-draw-2\/\" target=\"_self\">Champions League<\/a> draw press conference, the Ajax boss stated when asked whether the Brazilian would be &#8216;crazy&#8217; to swap their mouth-watering Champions League group to play in the Europa League at United, Schreuder responded: &#8220;<\/span><a class=\"editor-rtfLink\" href=\"https:\/\/www.express.co.uk\/sport\/football\/1660440\/Man-Utd-transfer-news-Ajax-Antony-Premier-League-latest\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Absolutely<\/span><\/a><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">.&#8221; <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Arguably most telling of all, the head coach added during the same press conference he was &#8220;confident&#8221; that his star winger would still be in his squad after the transfer deadline.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Read More<\/strong>:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2022\/08\/24\/manchester-united-james-garner-everton-transfer\/\" target=\"_self\">Manchester United Youngster in Talks to Join Premier League Rivals<\/a><\/p>\n<h3>What the Ajax Attacker Could Bring to Old Trafford<\/h3>\n<p>Antony has the potential to revitalise a United squad that is struggling despite the win over <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2022\/08\/15\/villarreal-set-asking-price-for-arsenal-and-liverpool-teenage-target\/\" target=\"_self\">Liverpool<\/a>. His speed, close control and balance will excite the Old Trafford faithful. His ability in one on one situations will bring a directness to the attack that is currently lacking.<\/p>\n<p>He also possesses great vision when crossing from deeper positions which will be music to the ears of the Manchester United attack.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Manchester United have suffered a blow in their pursuit of \u201cworld-class\u201d Brazilian international attacker Antony. According to Fabrizio Romano, Ajax head coach Alfred Schreuder has told De Telegraaf sports journalist Mike Verweij: \u201cWe don&#8217;t have a deadline. But I am assuming Antony will stay. He has a contract at Ajax.&#8221; According to respected journalist\u00a0Jonathan Shrager, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4106,"featured_media":616847,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8425,8426,18,3,7188],"tags":[9315,9029,4989],"class_list":["post-616821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-eredivisie","category-ajax","category-manchester-united","category-premier-league","category-rumours","tag-ajax-transfers","tag-antony","tag-manchester-united-transfers"],"modified_by":"Nat Goodlad, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4106"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=616821"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616821\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/616847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=616821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=616821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=616821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}