Manchester United fans are convinced that Anthony Elanga should not have been sold after his solid display for Nottingham Forest at City Ground on Saturday.
Elanga, who came through the United youth academy, played 55 matches for the Red Devils and scored four times before his Old Trafford exit in the summer.
The 21-year-old Swedish winger has immediately impressed this season at Forest, with Elanga already scoring four times in 20 Premier League appearances.
Ralf Rangnick was a big fan of Elanga, but the Forest star fell down the pecking order under Erik ten Hag and was struggling for first-team minutes at United.
However, Elanga has shown his quality at times and earned rave reviews for it, including for one moment in Forest’s 2-0 win over Aston Villa last month.
Elanga started against his former club in Forest’s final match of 2023 and impressed in the opening 45 minutes amid an otherwise largely uneventful first half.
United fans’ reaction to Elanga’s performance
United fans on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, were praising Elanga’s overall performance and the ex-Red Devils winger showed his true quality.
However, Red Devils supporters were also baffled by the decision to sell the Sweden international and rely on Antony, who started for United in the clash with Forest.
“Elanga decided to turn into prime Robinho against us,” one fan posted.
Another said: “Elanga looks far more dangerous with the ball than Antony.”
A third added: “Elanga is better than Antony.”
While a fourth tweeted: “We sold Elanga for 15m [and] bought Antony for 85m. Let it make sense to me. [Because] I can’t.”
“Manchester United really fumbled Anthony Elanga,” one fan wrote.
Someone else commented: “I think we’d have been better off with not buying Anthony and keeping and playing Elanga every week.”
And a seventh tweeted: “Whoever sold Elanga and bought Antony should be arrested.”
Elanga showed what Ten Hag is missing
Antony didn’t do much on the attacking front for United before half-time and the former Ajax star was withdrawn early on in the second half for Amad Diallo.
Ten Hag has kept faith in Antony this season, despite the fierce criticism that the 23-year-old Brazilian winger has faced over his disappointing run of form.
Antony has played 21 times for United across all competitions this season, but the Brazil international has failed to score once or even register a single assist.
The United winger’s lack of consistency has only reinforced the bad decision to allow Elanga to leave Old Trafford, especially with what he has achieved at Forest so far.
Elanga’s pace and work ethic were on full show in the Forest match against United and only spotlighted the lack of threat from Ten Hag’s attacking wingers this season.
from United In Focus https://ift.tt/fZjcr7L