Exclusive: Man Utd “open” to player departure & “appreciate” Chelsea transfer target as replacement – expert

Fabrizio Romano has made it clear that Manchester United could be quite open to allowing Antony to leave the club in the summer transfer window, even if it might take some time to see what that situation ends up looking like by then.

Antony has flopped since joining Man Utd from Ajax last season, with the Brazil international not looking anything like the exciting talent we saw in the Eredivisie, where he’d previously shone under the management of Erik ten Hag.

It could now be a wise time to think about offloading Antony, with Romano acknowledging that United may be quite open to this now, while Crystal Palace winger Michael Olise could also be one to watch as a potential replacement in attack.

The young Frenchman has shown what he can do in the Premier League with some fine performances for Palace, so it might not be quite as big a leap for him to go to United and make an instant impact.

Antony transfer: Could Olise replace Brazilian at Man United?

Speaking exclusively to CaughtOffside for today’s episode of The Debrief podcast, Romano discussed Antony and Olise, saying: “I think Man United will be quite open … in case they receive an important proposal then we could see this possibility for Antony. We’ll have to see what the player wants though, and what the situation will be in the summer.”

He added: “I think it’s going to be a very big race for Michael Olise – Manchester United appreciate the player, but we have to wait for their new director to see what will be the budget, what will be the strategy. But it’s a player they like, for sure.

“Chelsea were also interested and close to signing him last summer, now there is a release clause so it’s going to be an interesting one for these clubs.”