Antony opens up on Man United HELL after 'hitting rock bottom'

Antony has opened up on his call-up to the Brazil squad for their recent round of international fixtures after 'hitting rock bottom' at Manchester United.

The Man United forward struggled to fit in under either Erik ten Hag or Ruben Amorim and was duly sent out on loan in January, with the message being very clear that he was deemed superfluous.

However, at Real Betis Antony was rejuvenated, and went on to become one of the club's stars of the second half of the season.

Despite managing only 17 contributions in 96 appearances for United, he managed 14 in 26 games in just five months with Betis.

As such, he earned himself a perhaps surprising return to the Selecao, where he has now opened up on his own personal troubles this season.

'It was even more emotional, because of everything that I have been through,' the 25-year-old said of his return to the squad.

'Being in good shape, but hitting rock bottom, and having the resilience that I had, with the help of God and my family was very important for me.

I started to doubt, even in myself. But, my family always told me to stay calm, because the process is painful and people must accept it. Today, I understand it better after everything I went through. I am grateful for that experience.

'I was hitting rock bottom without any hope, despite continuing to do my part for the club.

'Even though I had no hope during the difficult time I was going through, at the same time, I remembered many things which I had experienced.

'I stopped to think, and said to myself: "I have not forgotten how to play football, I did not play in a World Cup for nothing, I did not make it to the national team for nothing".

'Everything happens for a reason, and this process was very necessary for my life.'

Antony has been widely tipped to leave the club this summer, having joined in Ten Hag's first transfer window for £86million, and has so far failed to deliver on that price tag.

As such, it had appeared to reflect badly on Ten Hag at the time given the claims that he had been a key part of the signing, yet the co-founder of the manager's agency, has claimed in a new book that they tried to block the move.

'Ten Hag and Vos were not in favour of this and wanted to stop the transfer,' writes Kees Vos of the Antony transfer in the book, Liverpool and the Dutch.

'But the club wanted to push through at all costs, because Arsenal was also interested in Antony.

'The risk of a stronger competitor would be great. Ultimately, Manchester United paid almost 100 million euros for Antony.

'Although Ten Hag did not support this transfer, it stuck with him throughout his entire time in Manchester that he took over the attacker from Ajax for this ill-fated amount, who was never able to fulfil his promise.'