Antony has no intention of leaving Manchester United in the coming months and any potential swap deal for Flamengo’s Lorran is not going to happen.
That’s according to journalist Jorge Nicola, who says he has spoken to Antony’s representatives about the transfer rumour coming out of England.
A report this week claimed that Manchester United could use Antony to try and strike a part-exchange deal with Flamengo for their rising star Lorran.
The report claimed Manchester United are big fans of the 18-year-old and would be willing to use Antony as part of a deal to get the youngster ahead of any competition, even though that would mean writing off huge figures given they paid €100m+ to sign him from Ajax.
On the face of it the deal seemed unlikely given that latter fact, and that Flamengo will be seeking a big fee for Lorran given the figures that Brazilian talents have been moving to Europe for in the last few years.
Now Nicola has moved to completely dismiss the rumour, reporting that Antony’s entourage have told him personally that the forward will not be moving from Manchester United anytime soon, particularly with a new manager in charge.
“Let’s change the subject and talk about a speculation that comes from England, and the account that Lorran, a Flamengo player, is of interest to Manchester United,” he said.
“From there, United could use Antony as a currency to hire the 18-year-old player. I confess that I found the story there weird, after all, Lorran is valued at €12m, and Anthony was bought for €100m.
“Anyway, I thought it was better to look for Junior Pedroso, who is Antony’s representative, to know if there was any search, any inquiry, if this story has any meaning. The answer was that Antony has no intention of leaving Manchester United.
“The club has just changed coach, Ruben Amorim, who was Sporting’s commander, was hired, was presented now at the FIFA date, and from there a new possibility opens up for Anthony to be better used. He has another two and a half years of contract with the English club and intends to continue.”