Antony has revealed that he turned down the opportunity to join a club that competes in the Champions League every year to sign for Real Betis on deadline day.
The 25-year-old Brazil international left Manchester United on deadline day when he completed his eagerly awaited return to Real Betis, where he spent the second half of last season on loan.
Antony sparked a career revival in La Liga and had his heart set on a return to the Spanish club.
However, it took an entire transfer window for the deal to materialise, despite Manuel Pellegrini stressing publicly that he wanted to keep Antony.
United pocketed an initial fee of £19.06 million for Antony’s signature, and he has made four appearances so far this season, registering two goal contributions for Real Betis.
Ineos negotiated a 50% sell-on clause in the deal for Antony, with Betis agreeing to a further £2.59m in add-ons if certain milestones are achieved.
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Bayern Munich’s late attempt to sign Antony from Man Utd
As far as United were concerned, they had no preference over whether Antony ended up at a particular club. Ineos would’ve sold to the biggest bid had one arrived.
The saga dragged on throughout the summer as the deal wasn’t completed until the final hours of the summer transfer window.
In a new interview with ESPN Brazil, Antony revealed that he received a late call from Bayern Munich, but his heart was already set on leaving United for Real Betis.
“It was very difficult, because we were there in the middle of ‘will it close or not’,” Antony said. “If I’m not mistaken, the deal was done at three in the morning.
“On the night before, Bayern Munich had also called me. I had practically everything closed with Betis. I am happy to be here, in a place where I have a lot of affection from people. It is a club I really like.”
Antony admitted he was swayed by Bayern’s offer, saying: “It did. Saying “no” is a lie, because it’s a big club. We got in touch there, but, like I said, it was already 95% done with Betis, so the path was well underway.”
Antony couldn’t turn his back on a club that showed him affection like no other last season.
He added: “From my first day here, I worked hard to find myself again, and I did. The affection I feel from this club is huge.”
Antony felt disrespected at Man Utd
In the same interview, Antony said he was disrespected at United.
The Brazilian winger refused to name names but suggested people at the club were ‘rude’ towards him, citing how nobody would say ‘good morning or good afternoon’ to him.
“Look, I’m not one to get involved in controversies, to name names, and I’m not even going to mention anyone’s names here. But I think there was a bit of disrespect there, a bit of rudeness, too, with no one saying good morning or good afternoon. There wasn’t even that.
“But anyway, that’s in the past, I’m not going to give much attention to those things. Now I’m here, at Betis, I’m living here, and that’s the most important thing to me.”
from United In Focus https://ift.tt/FZwaI4U