Brazilian star Antony has gone on strike at Ajax to force through his move to Manchester United.
The 22-year-old winger is refusing to play for the Dutch champions in their Eredivisie clash at Utrecht on Sunday. It comes after Antony pulled out of the last Ajax match, a 1-0 win at Sparta Rotterdam, with his future in the balance.
Ajax are playing hardball over allowing him to reunite with Erik ten Hag at Old Trafford and the South American star has retaliated by telling the Amsterdam club he won’t play for them after blocking his dream move. Ajax are holding out for £84.8million after refusing United’s latest offer of £74.6 million on Friday with United said to be ready to make one last deal-breaking bid.
Now Antony is trying to force their hand before the transfer window slams shut on Thursday. The player and his agent met Ajax officials on Friday afternoon at the Johan Cruyff Arena with club bosses saying they won’t allow him to leave unless United meet their 90 Euro valuation.
Ajax manager Alfred Schreuder has told club chiefs he can’t afford to lose any more players after already selling defender Lisandro Martinez to United last month in a £55million deal.
That comes on the back of top stars like Sebastian Haller, Ryan Grfavenberch and Nicolas Tagliafico also leaving this summer for over £100million.
And Schreuder is hoping that Ajax’s tough stance forces United to turn their attention to PSV Eindhoven winger Cody Gakpo.
“I can’t see why he wants to go to Manchester United. We are playing in the Champions League and they are not” said Schreuder. “Yes, they are a big club, but so are we in my opinion. For me it is clear. I have lost so many players, this boy is staying!’’
The board of directors at Ajax will meet again on Sunday to discuss if they can afford to say no to United’s latest offer, which is almost as big as the €115million annual turnover of the club. The board is said to be split and a number of directors believe Ajax should not turn the offer down and be left with a disgruntled star.
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Meanwhile, Ten Hag praised Antony's fellow Brazilian Casemiro after he made his debut in their 1-0 win over Southampton.
Ten Hag said: “I think it was quite good for him to see the Premier League, it’s a different style. He had pre-season, he played some games, he played 90 minutes only one time but he is fit. He had a good pre-season with a lot of training sessions and now we have to integrate him in the team in a way of play and a way of integrating with his team-mates.
“I think here in the Premier League there are the best coaches and the best players and the highest intensity. It's always in a different way so that is quite interesting and you have to adapt to it and also find a certain way to win games and that is what we did at Southampton.
"But it’s stating that was the problem, especially the second game against Brentford, when you don’t give everything, when you don’t have the attitude for 100 per cent, when you don’t have the right team spirit, you don’t have to talk about philosophy or game plan or whatever.
"First there has to be a team and there has to be spirit and there has to be 100 per cent commitment.”
