At 22-year-old, Antony has already experienced a lot as a young man, even outside of football.
Growing up in a suburb in Sao Paulo, he was witness to a lot of drug and gun crime, and watched countless families be torn apart by death and destruction. He admitted that a lot of it shocked him, including the time when police once raided his home.
“But I always had strength from my family, a family very devoted to God, who always showed me the right path to follow,” he said when describing how he coped with it all. That faith would have been strengthened when he was recruited by Sao Paulo FC aged 12, moving to their training centre just three years later.
READ MORE: Antony addresses future
There, Antony rose through the ranks and eventually broke into the first team. After a successful drop down to the under-20s - which ended with a trophy - he returned to the senior side shouldered with huge expectations.
“We become professionals knowing how to deal with criticism,” he explained (via the Guardian). “There are people who applaud you, while others boo.
“People curse and people compliment. I had to deal with it for a while, but I was always focused, working, knowing I was giving it my all daily. And things take a turn, like they did with me. They were picking on me, but then they cheered me on.”
After dealing with the unrelenting intensity and passion of South American football, Antony was ready to make the switch to Europe. Erik ten Hag brought him to Ajax aged just 19 and has since gone on to win two Dutch titles.
Now it seems Antony is keen to renew ties with his former boss, if reports elsewhere are to be believed. As much as Manchester United fans have been cut-throat towards their players recently, they rarely boo their own players unless warranted.
But high expectations are a given, and Antony must be ready to deal with that. As evidenced by his experiences as a young man, both on the pitch and off it, this won’t be a burden to him.
He has the life experience to be able to walk into a toxic environment unfazed and ready for battle - just what Ten Hag needs.
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