Antony vows upcoming season will be “totally different” as he makes major admission about his poor form | OneFootball

Manchester United winger Antony has promised supporters that the upcoming 2024/25 season will be a completely different one, as he admitted that his off-the-pitch troubles affected his performances.

United signed Antony from Ajax in the summer of 2022 for £86million. His fee made him the club’s second-most expensive player, only behind World Cup winner Paul Pogba.

To say he has failed to live up to his price tag would be a massive understatement. Two years into life at Old Trafford, Antony has managed just 11 goals and five assists in 82 appearances. In exactly the same number of games at Ajax, he registered 24 goals and 22 assists.

His performances last term were a constant source of frustration for fans and the media, who regularly criticised him.

The Brazilian has certainly not helped himself over the course of his United career, with the showboating, demonstrating visible anger at Ten Hag for playing him as an emergency left-back, cupping his ears at Coventry players after a penalty shootout in the FA Cup semi-final and of course, the allegations that have been levelled at him.

Antony’s former partner, Gabriela Cavallin, accused the winger of domestic abuse – something which cost the player his place in the Brazil squad.

Ahead of United’s Community Shield clash against Manchester City at Wembley, Antony spoke to reporters and opened up on his upbringing in a Sao Paulo favela, his poor form for the Red Devils and his objectives heading into the new season.

The 24-year-old said, “It’s difficult for me to talk about my background. It’s not by chance I have the favela where I grew up tattooed across my back and always play with ‘favela’ written on my boots. The favela is always with me. I’ll never let anyone else write my story or let people put me down as I genuinely know what it’s like to be at the bottom.”

“There were times when I didn’t have boots to play football in, times when there wasn’t enough to eat. I didn’t have a bedroom – I slept on the sofa in the living room. My house would flood when it rained heavily. I saw a lot of friends go down another path and some of them lost their lives. I know what I went through; I know what my mother, father, brother and sister suffered together with me.”

“My parents, brother and sister don’t live there any more, but whenever I’m on holiday I always look to pay a visit, even if it’s for a short amount of time. It renews my energy, reminds me where I come from and everything I went through to get here. I always get emotional talking about the favela because it’s somewhere I learned so much through adversity. We had nothing, just our faith in God and determination.”

Antony insisted that he will always represent the favela as it played a huge role in shaping who he is today.

He went on to say about his United performances, “I demand a lot of myself and obviously I was not satisfied with my season. A lot happened over the year in my personal life. Like it or not, everything had an effect on the pitch. But I’ve got a strong mentality and I’m focused on what I want. I know this season will be totally different.”

“I always set out objectives. More goal participations, more assists, where I need to improve. I put them down on paper rather than on my phone.”

The No. 21 revealed that for every match, he puts his objectives such as goals, shots and dribbles completed in writing. He told journalists that this visualisation helps him mentalise and play with specific targets in mind.

Want to be the first to hear breaking Man United news? For carefully selected, crucial updates, join our WhatsApp channel: https://bit.ly/United-Breaking-News.