Antony (footballer, born 2000)
Antony Matheus dos Santos (born 24 February 2000), simply known as Antony, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a winger for Premier League club Manchester United and the Brazil national team.
Antony graduated from the São Paulo academy and made his senior debut for the club in 2018. He moved abroad to Ajax in the summer of 2020, where he won two Eredivisie titles and one KNVB Cup during his two seasons. Antony's performances in the Netherlands led to a transfer worth €95 million (£82 million) to Manchester United, the highest sum paid for an Eredivisie player.
Antony won a gold medal with the Brazil under-23 team at the 2020 Summer Olympics. He then made his senior international debut and scored against Venezuela in October 2021, going on to represent Brazil at the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
Antony is a left-footed winger who plays from the right side and whose natural instinct is to attack inwards on his stronger foot.
Antony joined Manchester United in September 2022 from Ajax, for whom he made 57 league appearances in total, scoring 18 goals and providing 14 assists. At the age of 22 years and 192 days, Antony made a good start to his Premier League career on September 4, 2022 for Manchester United.
He began playing football at an early age, and he was soon spotted by São Paulo, who offered him a contract in 2010, aged 10, where he was inducted into their youth academy.[5] During his youth years, Antony struggled for game time and was close to being dismissed from the club's youth ranks, but the staff convinced his manager to keep him. While in the youth academy, Antony met Helinho and Igor Gomes, becoming good friends in the process. In September 2018, Antony helped his team win the J-League Challenge tournament in Japan, being named the tournament's best player.
On 23 February 2020, Ajax signed Antony on a five-year deal, effective from 1 July 2020, for an initial £13 million, which could rise to £18.2 million. He made his debut for the club on 13 September 2020, scoring the only goal of an away win over Sparta Rotterdam.[16] He made his debut in the UEFA Champions League on 27 October, in a 2–2 draw against Atalanta, leaving the field in the 90th minute, following a collision with Ruslan Malinovskyi,[17] before scoring his first goal in the competition on 3 November 2020, in a 2–1 away win over Midtjylland.
During the 2020–21 season, Antony competed with David Neres for a spot in the starting line-up, eventually winning his place, contributing to 46 appearances, and finishing the season with 11 goals and 10 assists, including a goal in the 3–1 defeat of Vitesse in the domestic cup final, helping Ajax win the domestic double of the Eredivisie and the KNVB Cup.
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