Manchester United fans are struggling to accept that last-minute loss to Arsenal on Sunday, and in their search for culprits, one of their summer signings has been red flagged by one of their former stars.
Speaking in his YouTube show called "FIVE", former defender and Man United legend Rio Ferdinand spoke about the match against the Gunners, sharing why he was quite unhappy with the performance of one of Erik Ten Hag's signings from last summer. The man in question is none other than Antony, who had to endure some harsh criticism by the former footballer.
According to Ferdinand, Antony was unable to inspire fear amongst Arsenal defenders, and while he has shown in the past he is able to behave properly when it comes to dribbling, Ferdinand seems to believe he "left" those skills back in Amsterdam.
"The concerning thing for me with somebody like Antony is that he can't beat anyone – and for a Brazilian that's surprising! 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," Ferdinand stated.
Then, Ferdinand recalled a moment during the game where he barely defeated a player that Antony should have dribbled past easily considering both players' speed.
"I saw (Thomas) Partey – who I wouldn't put down as like a roaster, a sprinter – absolutely burst past him, and I'm thinking, 'Woah, he hasn't got much power in them legs!' So, yeah, he's a tricky winger, but tricky wingers – you want them to still be able to beat the defender," Ferdinand added.
Ferdinand remembered the good old days when he played for the Red Devils and mentioned a few players that would not struggle to leave defenders behind, even if that was not the job they had been hired to do.
"When I played with Nani, Cristiano Ronaldo, Ryan Giggs, Antonio Valencia, even Ji-Sung Park would get past the full-back. I want to see that in Antony," the former defender said.
Before this bit of the show ended, Ferdinand added he would be willing to wait for Antony's best version, but fans should keep on asking for more before he gets too comfortable without adding depth to the team.
"Listen, it's his first season so you're going to have to give him a bit of time, doesn't matter how big the price tag is, but I need to see more glimpses of that," Ferdinand concluded.
Antony has scored five goals without any assists for Manchester United in his debut season with the club across all competitions. With those numbers, it is quite understandable why Ferdinand has cast a shadow of a doubt over the Brazilian, who was hired by Manchester United on hefty $95M move.
