Antony has gone straight into the Manchester United starting lineup for the Premier League clash with Arsenal, although both Cristiano Ronaldo and Harry Maguire remain benched.
Antony completed an £85m transfer from Ajax on Thursday, making the 22-year-old Brazilian the second most expensive player in United’s history. That came just too late for him to appear against Leicester that same night, but Erik ten Hag hasn’t wasted a second in getting Antony into the team.
The youngster has been assigned the number 21 shirt last worn by Edinson Cavani.
There is still no place in the United XI for Ronaldo or Maguire. Neither has started since the humiliating 4-0 defeat at the hands of Brentford in the second week of the season.
While Ronaldo has at least appeared off the bench in more recent games against Liverpool, Southampton and Leicester, Maguire has been an unused substitute.
Scott Saunders, Graeme Bailey, Toby Cudworth and Harry Symeou bring you a live deadline day edition of Talking Transfers. The team welcome Daniel Childs and Julien Laurens to the show to discuss Chelsea’s late window activity, Arsenal’s pursuit of Douglas Luiz, Paris Saint-Germain’s summer signings & much more! The show is also available on all audio platforms.
The transfer deadline passed with Ronaldo still a United player, despite the Portuguese asking the club to consider offers for him during the summer. Ten Hag has now challenged the 37-year-old to adapt to the new system because he still has the quality to be a match winner.
He showed it last year and not that long ago so now he needs to fit in our way of playing, if he does that, he will decide the games because of his capabilities,” the United boss told Sky Sports.
For more from Jamie Spencer, follow him on Twitter and Facebook!