Despite an interest in Cody Gakpo, the main Manchester United story these days in the Netherlands is the supposed pursuit of Antony.
The Ajax star is reportedly the prime target for the Red Devils, who want to give Erik ten Hag at least one new forward before the end of the transfer window, but time is running out.
We covered a report earlier that Edwin van der Sar, who knows Manchester United very well from his time there as a player, was seen as the main negotiator in the talks, but the latest meeting, according to De Telegraaf’s Mike Verweij, didn’t involve him.
Speaking on the newspaper’s Kick-Off podcast, the journalist gave the latest on the situation, claiming ‘there was a meeting with Antony and his lawyers in the Johan Cruijff Arena with Gerry Hamstra and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar’.
Van der Sar’s absence could be due to the fact that these talks didn’t involve the Old Trafford side per se, but the outcome wasn’t exactly what Ajax will have wanted.
That’s because ‘the positions are still exactly the same’, meaning the Eredivisie side don’t want their star to go, but the Brazilian ‘absolutely wants to go to Manchester United and under no circumstances wants to play football at Ajax’.
As for the reported €95m bid the Red Devils were set to be making, that has yet to arrive, much to the frustration of those negotiating on behalf of Antony.
Verweij added: “Even Antony’s entourage are surprised by this. It was supposed to be three days ago. It’s been announced for three days but Manchester United aren’t done yet and they find that annoying, because they also realise that the longer it takes, the easier it becomes for Ajax to say ‘yeah, now it’s so late so now it’s not happening at all’. So they also hope that the offer from Manchester United will come very soon.”
Another journalist, Marcel van der Kraan, then added that the reason for that bid not being made is that Ajax have not told the Red Devils how much they want for Antony.
He said: “Manchester United thinks ‘yes, we can offer €90m, €95m, €100m, €110m. We can offer anything, but if he’s not for sale, we don’t want to be forced into a position where we have to put an idiotic amount on the table’.”
Still, van der Kraan admitted that he believes this weekend is when matters ‘will actually become clear’, even if Erik ten Hag’s side ‘only want to talk about a serious offer when Ajax indicate whether something is possible’.
