Manchester United are poised to agree an £84million deal to land Ajax attacking star Antony with 20 percent of the deal set to go to the Brazilian’s former club Sao Paulo.
The 22-year-old has been top of Erik ten Hag' s shopping list all summer, with the two keen to reunite at Old Trafford. The Brazilian has been pushing for the move and desperately wants to leave Amsterdam after two impressive campaigns. Mirror Football exclusively reported that the Brazil international is now on strike at his current club.
United are now set to pay out a premium fee to land the talented forward but the agreement is partly at such a high threshold as Ajax will not be entitled to the full transaction due to a transfer clause they agreed with Sao Paulo when signing the player in 2020.
As first reported by Goal.com, the Brazilian club will net £16.7million from the agreement – the bulk of which comes from the 20 percent sell-on clause in his contract, which is subsequently being topped up by the training compensation that they are entitled to in the agreement.
Ironically, this will be the second payment in as many weeks that Sao Paulo are set to secure due to United’s transfer business. They also enjoyed a cash injection from the Premier League club’s signing of Real Madrid midfielder Casemiro, due to the same solidarity mechanism from their training of the midfielder – who played for the same Brazilian club as Antony before making his move to Europe in 2013.
On Friday, Antony spoke about Ajax's treatment of his situation in a bombshell interview. "Since February of this year, my agents came to Amsterdam to inform Ajax of my desire to leave the club to face new challenge and that some interested clubs would arrive and with them, certainly a great offer," Antony explained to transfer reporter Fabrizio Romano.
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Meanwhile, United’s transfer business is not set to end there. Despite being on the verge of clinching Antony’s signature, Ajax’s Eredivisie title rivals PSV Eindhoven believe United will make a bid for their talented forward Cody Gakpo this week.
The Dutch club missed out on Champions League group stage qualification and their financial need for sales is now greater.
United are also in the market for a new right-back – should Aaron Wan-Bissaka leave the club this week, with former club Crystal Palace interested in a deal – while they are also set to secure the loan signing of goalkeeper Martin Dubravka from Newcastle.
