If, for whatever reason, you have been living under a rock for the past decade, a look at two big-money forwards, one in each team, can provide you with a perfect summation of the diverging transfer market performances at Manchester City and Manchester United.
City, somehow, have done it again, unearthing Jeremy Doku in the summer, with the 21-year-old already making a mockery of Premier League defences after registering four assists in one game as the champions ran riot over Bournemouth on Saturday.
That is one more assist than Antony has managed in 55 appearances for United since becoming the club’s third-most expensive player in their history last year.
The Brazilian is without a goal in 20 matches, but, more pertinently, his form is not improving as he settles into life in England, it is getting painfully worse.
The £86m pricetag will always invite the utmost scrutiny, but the output from Antony isn’t just the polar opposite of what you would expect from such an expensive acquisition, but any footballer at the top level.
It is somewhat remarkable that amid the litany of gloom at Old Trafford, Antony’s woes are still standing out. Watching the 23-year-old is like crowding around a street juggler who can’t catch. Nothing he is trying – his confidence to try the flicks and tricks remains, surprisingly, unmoved – is coming off.
The term flop gets banded about with relish whenever big-money stars fail to perform, but this is no player failing to live up to the billing. Antony is on course to be regarded as one of United’s worst-ever signings, without even taking money into the account, jostling for top spot on the podium alongside Eric Djemba-Djemba and Bebe.
His form is so damaging that he could, having become the symbol of a United transfer shift that is both outdated and ill-advised, bring his manager down with him.
With over a billion pounds wasted in the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era, with arguably only Bruno Fernandes being deemed a successful purchase in the last 10 years of decay at Old Trafford, United desperately needed to change how they approach the transfer market to stop City disappearing completely over the horizon.
Signing big names based on their reputation, believing they could fit into any manager’s system, was just not bearing fruit. At some point, a club of United’s grandeur had to learn their lesson and take a more considered approach.
The solution was to give Erik ten Hag the keys to the vault – something that was welcomed by supporters at the time, especially those who believe there remains another all-encompassing Ferguson-type manager out there (he or she does not exist). Those fruitless Antony stepovers have changed opinions somewhat.
The best managers in the modern era are left to coach and Ten Hag should have known this, rather than just simply bring the best players from Ajax with him in his removal van.
Guardiola did not spend his Tuesday evenings sat at the back of the stands in a baseball cap scouting Doku. Director of football Txiki Begiristain and Ferran Sorriano know what type of player their coach wants and simply give him the tools with which to work his magic.
There is not quite the same seamless process across Manchester. You can hear the laughter still in Amsterdam should you pass by Ajax’s boardroom.
Antony’s plight has led those close to Jadon Sancho to question what the point would be of even trying to persuade the United outcast to apologise to Ten Hag – something the Dutchman insists must happen to end the England forward’s exile.
Sources have told i that even if Sancho was willing to say sorry, a floundering Antony would still take some usurping, as the United boss would keep giving the man he risked his reputation on chance after chance to prove the doubters wrong.
Sancho is still training alone at United’s academy facilities since his public fallout with Ten Hag over his omission from the first-team squad for the trip to Arsenal in September. Sources have told i a January exit remains likely, given the pecking order is so difficult to penetrate.
Antony, after returning from Brazil to face allegations of assault, which he denies, has played seven matches with Sancho on the outside looking in. In that time, he has created zero chances, had zero shots on target and completed an unfathomably low figure, for a winger, of four dribbles. Doku made five inside 90 minutes on Saturday.
It is a long way back from numbers like that, for the player and the manager who believed this was the star name to awaken United from its slumber.
from Football - inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/jTenVIi
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