Man Utd reject Antony accuses Ruben Amorim of 'disrespect' in explosive Man Utd rant

Antony has opened up on his final days as a Manchester United player, claiming he felt “disrespected” by the club’s treatment of him. Antony was part of the so-called ‘bomb squad’ over the summer before sealing a permanent exit to Real Betis on transfer deadline day.

United spent all summer trying to offload a group of five players not wanted by Ruben Amorim. Antony was joined by Marcus Rashford, Alejandro Garnacho, Jadon Sancho and Tyrell Malacia in exile before leaving.

Eventually, after a few dead-ends, Antony got his wish with a permanent €25million (£21.65m) transfer to Betis, where he had spent a happy loan spell last season. The Brazilian had been training separately from Amorim’s first team at United’s Carrington training ground up until the final days of August.

The group had been told in no uncertain terms that they had no future under Amorim and to find a new club. They were forced to arrive at the training ground at 5pm, once the rest of the players had all left, to train alone. The policy caused some friction behind the scenes, with some staff members deeming it to be unnecessarily cruel.

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Ultimately, though, it had the desired effect, with Antony, Rashford, Garnacho and Sancho departing, leaving Malacia as the odd one out. Antony is delighted to have moved to Seville permanently, but still harbours some ill feeling about the way his former club handled things.

“They were very tough months in England, more than 40 days in the hotel, training separately… I feel like they disrespected me, but that’s not the point,” he told Onda Cero.

“I don’t want to create controversy, that’s life. I’m very grateful for the club. There were bad times, but also good times, with two titles. My family travelled to Seville four or five days before the deal was finalised. I had the house rented.”

Antony joined United in a £86m move from Ajax in September 2022 on the behest of Erik ten Hag, who had managed him in Amsterdam. But the move did not work out, the Brazilian winger only contributing 12 goals and five assists in 96 appearances across all competitions.

He was deemed an example of the waste of the previous regime by Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Ineos sanctioned his departure this summer at a huge loss.

Antony impressed on loan with Betis last season and made a big impact in their first Europa League game of the campaign last week, scoring and assisting in the 2-2 draw with Nottingham Forest. He is now targeting a place in Brazil’s squad for the 2026 World Cup.

“It’s a dream,” he said. “I played in a World Cup, and of course I dream of playing in it a second time. It’s always great to represent your country. I’m going to do my job, like I’m doing, and I hope to be in the squad.”

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