Antony’s agent Junior Pedroso has emphatically dismissed Ruben Amorim’s assessment of why his client has impressed at Real Betis.
The Manchester United winger is playing on loan for Betis until the end of the season following a difficult spell at Old Trafford.
Antony has already shown huge improvement in Spain with three goals and two assists in seven appearances.
His United head coach Amorim believes his success has been aided by the level of physicality in LaLiga compared to the Premier League.
“When you play against any team here in England, the physicality is there,” he told Rio Ferdinand in an interview for TNT Sports.
“Sometimes they don’t need to build up a lot, just a long ball, second ball, and they are there so if you don’t have physicality, you struggle a lot.
“And we talk about a lot of players that we had, Antony is so much better now in Spain.
“It’s a lot of factors, but I guarantee you it’s the physicality.”
However, when speaking to MARCA via the Manchester Evening News, his agent Pedroso shut down Amorim’s explanation for the Brazilian.
“We respect the opinion of coach Ruben Amorim, but we completely disagree with his analysis.
“To attribute Antony’s lack of success at Manchester United solely to the question of physicality is a very superficial argument and does not reflect reality. The truth is that Antony has not had enough prominence or the confidence necessary to play his best football.
“Of the 15 games in which Amorim managed Manchester United, he only used Antony in nine, with a total of 252 minutes played. This represents only 18.6 per cent of the total possible minutes [1,350 minutes].
“How can you judge an athlete without a minimum sequence to prove his worth? The manager’s statement, although perhaps it was not his intention, ends up devaluing La Liga and the Spanish competitions.
“Spanish football has one of the most competitive leagues in the world, with top-level teams that constantly compete in the final stages of the Champions League and the Europa League.
“The reality is that Antony, since he arrived at Real Betis, has become one of the best players in the team and in the competition itself, demonstrating his full potential when given the right conditions to develop his game.
“This highlights that the problem was not the physicality, but the context and the way he was managed in Manchester. Many players who do not prosper at United find success at other clubs, which leads us to wonder if the problem really lies with the players.”
