Cristiano Ronaldo’s future at Manchester United remains uncertain after it emerged this weekend that the Portuguese superstar wants to quit Old Trafford.
The club in response reiterated their stance from last week when it came out that the striker’s agent Jorge Mendes had met with new Chelsea owner Todd Boehly about a potential move to Stamford Bridge by saying Ronaldo is not for sale.
If the five-time Ballon d'Or winner does force through an exit, it was revealed by Sunday Mirror Sport that new boss Erik ten Hag will urge United to replace him with Ajax's young Brazilian forward Antony.
The 22-year-old finished the last campaign having registered 22 goal contributions in just 32 appearances, six of which came in the Champions League. The fact he’s already worked so successfully under Ten Hag is an obvious added bonus.
It’s difficult to ignore that as a profile though, he’s far different from Ronaldo.
At this stage of his career, the 37-year-old is very much a penalty box poacher who prioritises finishing attacking moves rather than helping create them, as was the case earlier in his professional career.
He plays exclusively as a centre-forward and is the focal point of most United attacks. Antony though is different. He’s a left-footed attacker who will most often operate on the right of his team’s attack.
This area of the pitch plays to his strengths. He is a thrilling dribbler and finished the last Eredivisie campaign having averaged the third most dribbles per 90 (8.4) for any player who played over 1000 minutes. Ronaldo attempted around a third of that average total per 90 last season.
And while Antony clearly contributes in terms of goals and assists, as highlighted by his aforementioned return from the last campaign, it’s worth noting the same was split close to even (G12, A10). Due to the role he plays, Ronaldo’s return was far more lopsided (G24, A2).
Positionally and stylistically, there are few similarities between the two attackers and that’s also the case from a physical standpoint too. Ronaldo is a big profile who stands at 6f2in, making him an ever-present aerial threat and great at holding the ball up inside the final third of the pitch. Antony is again different though, he is slightly built and only 5ft9in tall.
There’s little doubt the Brazilian would still be a welcome addition to the United attack, especially given the club currently lack a standout attacker who operates best on the right. Yet there’s a clear issue in this transfer if United are eyeing the Ajax man up to be Ronaldo’s replacement.
Antony isn’t a centre-forward, nor does he look capable of playing such a role adequately. Ten Hag will already be aware of this, meaning his arrival could be part of a wider sequence of transfers with a more suitable replacement following him through the door at Old Trafford.
Yet, having already committed more than £120million to sign Frenkie de Jong from Barcelona, bring in Ajax defender Lisandro Martinez and recruit Feyenoord full-back Tyrell Malacia, it’s tough to see just how much further the budget could stretch for Ten Hag. Especially given United have been advised it could take up to £70m to land Antony too.
