Anthony endured a less-than-successful three years at Manchester United before joining Real Betis on a permanent deal in the summer, but Ruben Amorim and the Red Devils fans are being told what they think of him.
It has been said that Anthony “didn’t care whether he played or not” at Manchester United. The Brazilian winger had a lackluster three years with the Red Devils from 2022 to 2025, with the final six months of his spell spent on loan at Real Betis.
Despite failing to hit his stride at Old Trafford, the 25-year-old ultimately flourished in Spain towards the end of the 2024/25 season, scoring nine goals and providing five assists in all competitions for the club. As a result of his excellent form, Betis opted to make the move permanent this summer, signing Anthony for a fee of around £21.5 million.
So far this season, Anthony has made 13 appearances for his new club in La Liga and the Europa League, scoring a further six goals and providing three assists. And while he made a career turnaround at the Estadio Benito Villamarín, the Spanish football expert has explained where he thinks everything went wrong for Anthony at United.
read more: Manchester United look to submit a transfer offer after getting ‘close’ for £53m pace centre-backread more: Ruben Amorim drops player who mocked him on social media, Manchester United win
Speaking exclusively to Mirror Football, Terry Gibson explained: “I think there’s a bit of a fit for the league and I think the moment he stepped off the plane to go on loan to Betis he was loved and welcomed by the supporters,[Manuel]Pellegrini and the players.”
“It was a clear case of a player who was underperforming at Man United and was not popular with the fan base. If you were a Man United fan, no one cared whether he played or not.
“Most of them wanted him not to play. The manager didn’t have any faith in him. So when he got off the plane at Betis and there were so many supporters there to greet him and wait and the manager picked him and told him how important he was, I think it just brought his self-esteem back.”
“And he can play. It can be a bit of a joke: ‘Oh, Anthony, the league can’t be that good if he’s scoring goals, blah blah blah’. But he’s a really good player. He’s Betis’ second most popular player, but he’ll never overtake Isco.”
Gibson was delighted to be able to watch Real Betis’ 2-0 win over Sevilla this weekend live, co-commentating on Premier Sports 1. Pablo Fornals opened the scoring in the second half, followed by Sergi Altimira with about 20 minutes remaining.
However, Anthony received a red card against Girona on 23 November and was not included in Pellegrini’s Derby squad. Anthony attempted an overhead kick in the closing stages, but missed the ball completely and accidentally kicked Joel Roca in the head.
Initially only a yellow card was shown, but the referee upgraded it to a straight red after a VAR review. As a result, he missed the entire Sevilla clash over the weekend.
It comes after Gibson also highlighted potential problems in securing Marcus Rashford’s permanent move to Barcelona next summer. The 28-year-old is currently enjoying a season-long loan with Barcelona manager Hansi Flick after falling out of favor under Ruben Amorim.
And Rashford’s future could be set at Camp Nou, as the Catalan giants have the option to make the move permanent at the end of the season. However, Gibson stressed that Barça may struggle to raise funds given their struggles in that area.
He said: “Finding £30 million for Barcelona is not as easy as it usually is, but now that we’re back in the new stadium and we’re charging a whopping £45,000 for tickets this weekend, that number will continue to rise.”
“And Barcelona will soon be back on the same financial footing as before. And they will have very lofty goals to bring superstars back to Barcelona.”
Rashford will be hoping to make an impact in Barcelona’s game against Atletico Madrid on Tuesday night after coming on as a second-half substitute against Alaves this weekend. Barça are currently top of La Liga, just three points ahead of Diego Simeone’s side, and will be hoping to widen the gap even further when the two teams meet at the Camp Nou.
FC Barcelona vs. Atlético Madrid will be available for fans in the UK to watch live on Premier Sports 1 from 7:55pm on Tuesday nights.
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