MANCHESTER UNITED star Antony has been accused of being a “YouTube player”.
The Brazilian was on the losing side as the Red Devils were beaten 3-2 by Arsenal in a crucial encounter at the Emirates on Sunday.
Antony, 22, was hooked for Fred on 71 minutes, having picked up a yellow card.
And concerns have been raised over his credentials as an £86million signing.
Appearing on talkSPORT, former England striker Darren Bent claimed that Antony “lacks substance”.
Bent said: “He’s doing all this stuff but he’s not going past anyone.
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“It’s not like he’s doing a trick to manipulate the ball to go past someone, he’s just doing it for the sake of it.
“All tricks and flicks, no substance at the minute.”
After performing a double spin trick against Sheriff in the Europa League last October, Antony was blasted for “showboating” and hauled off at half-time by Erik ten Hag.
Put to Bent that Antony could be described as merely a “YouTube player”, he added: “A little bit yeah.
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“You clip all the best bits of a footballer and you look at it on YouTube and go ‘wow, I can’t believe we’re signing him!’
“But where’s the substance in between, where’s the end product?
“I know he started off alright at United, couple of good goals, but where’s the end product?”
Antony scored in each of his first three Premier League games for Man Utd, following his £86m summer switch from Ajax.
But he is without a goal in eight league games since.
Since Sunday’s defeat, former Red Devil Rio Ferdinand has also questioned Antony.
While recording his show FIVE, Rio said: “He just doesn’t beat anyone and I’m sitting there thinking, ‘Was that always the way?’
“I’ve seen clips of him when he was at Ajax and he was somebody who used to beat people.
He’s a tricky winger, but with tricky wingers you want them to still be able to beat the defender
Rio Ferdinand
“I saw Thomas Partey, who I wouldn’t put down as a sprinter, absolutely burst past him, and I’m thinking, ‘Woah, he hasn’t got much power in them legs!’
“He’s a tricky winger, but with tricky wingers you want them to still be able to beat the defender.”
Gary Neville was also critical after the match, saying on his Sky Sports podcast: “I wish they had better quality in the final third, Sancho isn’t out there and you would expect United to have better options off the bench but they haven’t at this moment in time.
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“I want to see more from Antony.. £90m signing and I think to take him off is a disappointment because you would like to think like Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka, who are also young players, that Marcus Rashford and Antony could’ve been the ones on the other side of it, counter-attacking for United.
“But it’s just not happening for him at this moment in time and he has got a bit of work to do. He obviously he is newer to England than the other two.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
