Manchester United quoted £68.9 million to sign Antony from Ajax this summer – reports

The Old Trafford club will need to see if Ajax drop their price to conclude a deal

Manchester United would like to sign Antony from Ajax this summer but the Dutch club have placed a £68.9 million price tag for the player according to Paul Hirst of The Times. It is a massive fee for the Brazilian winger but Erik ten Hag likes him and the player would like the move.

For the best part of a fortnight, it has been suggested that United and Antony were only a matter of time from being brought together but in the past few days, Ajax have started to dig their heels in with many players already being sold and more likely this summer.

You can understand them wanting to keep hold of their best players, especially in a summer where their former manager and director of football have left the club, plus three first team players already having left. It would not look like the club was backing their new manager.

However, that said, keeping Antony, who would like to sign for United this summer, will not look good either. It was stated in Hirst’s report that once United have sealed the deal for Frenkie de Jong, which is expected to be completed this week, they will look at further deals.

Christian Eriksen is a player who United have made an offer for as he will become a free agent on Friday, should he decide not to re-sign with Brentford. Providing both De Jong and Eriksen are signed, United will seek an attacking player with Antony at the top of the list.

However, his £68.9 million fee is not something United will happily pay as they only have £120 million to spend this summer, plus anything raised by sales – which at this time seems to be pretty slim, but you never know. Perhaps United will tempt Ajax with a lower fee which might be accepted?

United are also interested in Antony’s teammate, Lisandro Martínez who Ajax value at £43 million, meaning that United would need to spend £111.9 million on both players. That added to the deal to sign De Jong would see United well over budget providing the £120 million suggestion was true.

Should the move for Martínez fail, Ajax teammate Jurriën Timber and Villarreal defender Pau Torres are on the list, although the defence is third on the list and not seen as a major priority. United would like to sell some players this summer.

Recently, Andreas Pereira has been subject of a bid by Fulham worth £11 million, which would be good to see as the player has only ever looked good in preseason. Anthony Martial is another the club would like to sell but finding a buyer could be the tough part of the deal.

Written by John Walker

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I support Manchester United, the greatest English football team to have ever existed. Bruno Fernandes is the latest in a long line of players with great ability to play for the club. I idolised Bryan Robson, David Beckham, Paul Scholes, and Eric Cantona growing up.