Antony revealed that one Manchester United teammate pleaded with him to remain on the club before he accomplished his deadline-day transfer to Real Betis.
Antony, who United signed from Ajax for £82m in 2022, was frozen out of Ruben Amorim’s first-team squad and spent the second half of last season on loan at Betis.
And despite a powerful return with the Spanish side, Antony was told he still had no future at Old Trafford, spending the summer living in a hotel and training away from his teammates.
But despite the club and the player’s desire for a fresh start, Antony was made to attend until deadline day with a purpose to complete a £21.65 million everlasting move back to the Spanish club.
Speaking about his difficult final chapter in England, the Brazilian namechecked Matheus Cunha, who joined United that summer from Wolves, as a helpful friend through the trying few months.
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And Antony said that his fellow countryman Cunha even tried, in vain, to persuade the winger to remain on at United before his departure.
‘I didn’t work for anyone there, just for myself,’ he told Spanish publication AS when asked about his summer.
‘I used to be with my dad and I had friends too, like Matheus Cunha who’s playing there. Now I feel much stronger, there are things that remain prior to now.
‘Matheus Cunha wanted me to play there with him, however the situation was already very difficult. I’m very keen on him.’
Antony also lifted a lid on his strained relationship with Amorim, saying: ‘I didn’t talk much with Rúben Amorim, there wasn’t much contact.
‘That’s his decision for me to coach individually. But it surely needed to be respected.
‘It was very hard, but when I’m going through things like that in life I all the time remember essentially the most difficult things I went through within the favela, for instance.
‘You may have to be persistent, I used to be doing my job to arrange for this moment.’
Antony is yet to register a goal contribution in La Liga since his return to Betis, although he did rating and assist when the Spanish side drew 2-2 with Nottingham Forest in last month’s Europa League clash.
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