{"id":494540,"date":"2025-10-12T21:36:22","date_gmt":"2025-10-12T21:36:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/494540\/"},"modified":"2025-10-12T21:36:22","modified_gmt":"2025-10-12T21:36:22","slug":"antony-names-manchester-united-player-who-asked-him-to-stay-before-transfer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/494540\/","title":{"rendered":"Antony names Manchester United player who asked him to stay before transfer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Manchester United winger Antony spent the second half of last season on loan at Real Betis before making the deal permanent in the summer transfer window\"AntonyAntony managed to complete his move to Real Betis towards the end of the summer transfer window after requesting to leave Manchester United(Image: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Manchester United winger Antony has revealed that his compatriot Matheus Cunha urged him to stay at Old Trafford<\/a> before his permanent switch to Real Betis.<\/p>\n

Antony<\/a> was Erik ten Hag’s<\/a> marquee signing but his performances did not match his \u00a385m price tag. When Ten Hag was eventually sacked in October 2024, the Brazilian’s time in Manchester appeared to be nearing an end.<\/p>\n

Ruben Amorim’s<\/a> appointment near enough sealed his fate with the new system at United <\/a>not conducive to wingers. By January, Amorim had sealed a loan move for Antony to Real Betis and this managed to revitalise his career.<\/a><\/p>\n

The winger bagged nine goals and five assists in Spain as he helped his team reach the final of the Conference League. At the end of the season, Antony returned to Manchester and informed the club that he wished to leave.<\/p>\n

Despite this, Antony has revealed that Cunha, who joined from Wolverhampton Wanderers at the beginning of the summer transfer window, urged the Brazilian to stay. “Matheus Cunha<\/a> wanted me to play there with him, but the situation was already very difficult,” he told AS<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"MatheusMatheus Cunha has yet to bag his first goal or assist for Manchester United(Image: Getty Images)<\/p>\n

“I have a lot of affection for him.” At one stage, it did not seem clear that Antony would leave United but eventually a deal was struck with Betis.<\/a><\/p>\n

While negotiations continued with the La Liga club, Antony was forced to train away from his teammates at Carrington. Reflecting on that situation, Antony added: “I didn\u2019t speak much with Ruben Amorim; there wasn\u2019t much contact.<\/p>\n

“His decision to allow me to train separately was a given. But I had to respect it.<\/p>\n

“Today I\u2019m fine. I took care of myself by training well even though I was apart.<\/p>\n

“After three months, I played 90 minutes, and that\u2019s the result of what I was working on.” Since moving back to Spain, Antony has recorded a goal and an assist which came in the same game as Real Betis drew 2-2 with Nottingham Forest in the Europa League<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sky Sports discounted Premier League and EFL package<\/p>\n

This article contains affiliate links, we will receive a commission on any sales we generate from it. Learn more<\/a>\"Content<\/p>\n

\u00a349<\/p>\n

\u00a335<\/p>\n

Sky<\/p>\n

Get Sky Sports here<\/a><\/p>\n

Sky has slashed the price of its Essential TV and Sky Sports<\/a> bundle for the 2025\/26 season, saving members \u00a3336 and offering more than 1,400 live matches across the Premier League, EFL and more.<\/p>\n

Sky will show at least 215 live Premier League games this season, an increase of up to 100 more.<\/p>\n

Here at The Manchester Evening News, we are dedicated to bringing you the best Manchester United<\/a> coverage and analysis.<\/p>\n

Make sure you don’t miss out on the latest United news by joining our free WhatsApp group. You can get all the breaking news and best analysis sent straight to your phone by clicking here<\/strong><\/a> to subscribe.<\/p>\n

You can also subscribe to our free newsletter service. Click here<\/strong><\/a> to be sent all the day’s biggest stories.<\/p>\n

And, finally, if you would rather listen to our expert analysis then make sure to check out our Manchester is Red podcast, featuring The Midweek Debate. Our shows are available on all podcast platforms, including Spotify<\/strong><\/a> and Apple Podcasts<\/strong><\/a>, and you can also watch along on YouTube<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Manchester United winger Antony spent the second half of last season on loan at Real Betis before making…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":494541,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[95,748,393,4884,2465,423,9060,235,12408,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-494540","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-antony","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-manchester","13":"tag-manchester-united-fc","14":"tag-manchester-united-transfer-news","15":"tag-matheus-cunha","16":"tag-summer-transfer-window","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115363354118812225","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494540","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=494540"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494540\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/494541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=494540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=494540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=494540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}