Teddy Sheringham has criticised winger ’s lack of consistency and feels he would not have made the grade during Sir Alex Ferguson’s time in charge.
The Brazilian arrived from last summer after a protracted transfer saga in a deal worth £85million, but he has struggled to live up to that price tag.
Antony has netted just four times and laid on one assist in 21 appearances – a key contribution every 308 minutes – while he has a further four goals across 19 Cup outings both domestically and in Europe.
The 23-year-old actually recorded as many assists (two) in his two Eredivisie outings at the start of season for Ajax as he has done across 40 matches for United.
His indifferent performances continued on Thursday night in the , with the winger missing several good chances before being withdrawn in the 75th minute after getting booked for lashing out and then squaring up to Lewis Dunk.
Sheringham has not been impressed with Antony’s displays since moving to Old Trafford and does not feel he is consistently involved in matches enough – something old boss Sir Alex would not have liked.
‘I’d be interested in hearing what Fergie thinks of Antony,’ Sheringham told.
‘Whenever we played against wingers like that, Fergie would call them a “little fizz-pop”, because he is a winger that whizzes around, can disappear for long periods of games and can do needless tricks, but is also capable of scoring a wonder goal every now and again.
‘He’s not really a Fergie player – Fergie liked his wingers to be more consistent than Antony has been.
‘I know that he has scored some great goals; some important goals, and he is obviously a talented boy. I think he needs to learn a little bit more about the Premier League, a little bit like Ronaldo when he first joined the club.’
Two other summer signings – Lisandro Martinez and Casemiro – have got the Sheringham seal of approval, with the ex-striker continuing: ‘I really like Casemiro. I think he could save them a lot of money in terms of owning that position for a few more seasons – they wouldn’t need to sign a player like Declan Rice with him in the team.
‘Casemiro is a very good player. He’s very cool in possession, he knows when to foul people, knows when to be hard and to keep the game ticking over. He’s an experienced player and was an addition that United midfield was crying out for. I think he’s been fantastic in his debut season.
‘I like Martinez. I think he took a little bit of time to adjust to the Premier League – there was obviously a lot of talk about his size when he joined, but football isn’t the game it was twenty-five years ago with balls being lumped into the box.
‘He’s Argentinian and brings that aggression to his game. He’s just won the World Cup. It’s a shame that he’s got injured – he’s had a great season. He’s come in and adapted well to the English game.’
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