Antony Matheus dos Santos (born 24 February 2000), simply known as Antony, is a Brazilian professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a winger for club

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

and the Brazil national team. Antony is a graduate of the

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...

academy and made his senior debut for the club in 2018. He moved abroad to

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * ''Ajax'' (play), by the ancient Greek ...

in the summer of 2020, where he won two

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

titles and one

KNVB Cup The KNVB Beker (; en, KNVB Cup), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organized by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. Ou ...

during his two seasons. Antony's performances in the Netherlands led to a transfer worth

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists o ...

95 million ( £82 million) to Manchester United, the highest sum paid for an Eredivisie player. Antony won a gold medal with the Brazil under-23 team at the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

. He then made his senior international debut and scored against

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

in October 2021, going on to represent Brazil at the

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup is an international association football, football tournament contested by the men's national teams of FIFA's member associations. The 22nd FIFA World Cup is taking place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022 ...

Early life

Antony was born in

Osasco Osasco () is a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in São Paulo State, Brazil, located in the Greater São Paulo and ranking 5th in population among São Paulo municipalities. According to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, ...

, Brazil and grew up in Inferninho, a

favela Favela () is an umbrella name for several types of working-class neighborhoods in Brazil. The term was first used in the Providência neighborhood in the center of Rio de Janeiro in the late 19th century, which was built by soldiers who had ...

far from the city centre. Growing up, he would play football wherever he could on the streets or in his house, combining his love of

futsal Futsal is a football-based game played on a hardcourt, hard court smaller than a football pitch, and mainly indoors. It has similarities to five-a-side football and Indoor soccer, indoor football. Futsal is played between two teams of five players ...

with

street football The terms street football and street soccer (American and Canadian English) encompass a number of informal varieties of association football. These informal pick up games do not necessarily follow the requirements of a formal game of footbal ...

and regularly attending

matches with his aunt. He is of Portuguese descent.

Club career

São Paulo

Youth

He began playing football at an early age and he was soon spotted by São Paulo who offered him a contract in 2010, aged 10, where he was inducted into their youth academy. During his youth years, Antony struggled for game time and was close to being dismissed from the club's youth ranks, but the staff convinced his manager to keep him. While in the youth academy, Antony met Helinho and

Igor Gomes Igor Silveira Gomes (born 17 March 1999) is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Atlético Mineiro. Club career São Paulo Born in São José do Rio Preto, Gomes played youth football for América-SP and Tanabi, be ...

, becoming good friends in the process. In September 2018, Antony helped his team win the J-League Challenge tournament in Japan, being named the tournament's best player.

2018: Rise to the first team

Later that month, on 26 September, Antony alongside Helinho and Igor Gomes, were promoted to the senior team, and he signed a contract until September 2023. On 15 November, he made his first-team debut, coming on as a substitute for Helinho in a 1–1 draw against Grêmio. He was immediately demoted to the club's under-20 team, in order to take part in the Copa São Paulo de Futebol Júnior, which his team won, scoring in the final against

Vasco da Gama Vasco da Gama, 1st Count of Vidigueira (; ; c. 1460s – 24 December 1524), was a Portuguese explorer and the first European to reach India by sea. His initial voyage to India by way of Cape of Good Hope (1497–1499) was the first to link E ...

, while also being named the tournament's best player, for his 4 goals and 6 assists in 9 games he played in the competition.

2019–20: Campeonato Paulista success and final seasons

Following his impressive displays in the tournament, Antony returned to the first-team and with São Paulo struggling in the

Campeonato Paulista The Campeonato Paulista Série A1, commonly known as Campeonato Paulista, nicknamed Paulistão, is the top-flight professional association football, football league in the Brazilian States of Brazil, state of São Paulo (state), São Paulo. Run b ...

, he began receiving more first-team minutes. He scored his first goal on 21 March, in a 1–1 draw against São Caetano, with the ''Tricolor'' conceding a goal in

stoppage time Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

. He immediately stood out as one of the revelations of the competition, scoring two goals, including one in the final against

Corinthians The First Epistle to the Corinthians ( grc, Α΄ ᾽Επιστολὴ πρὸς Κορινθίους) is one of the Pauline epistles, part of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and a co-aut ...

a month later, where his side lost 2–1 on aggregate. On 18 July, he agreed to an extension until 2024. On 5 March 2020, Antony made his debut in the

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as the Copa Libertadores de América ( pt, Copa Libertadores da América), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in S ...

, starting in São Paulo's 2–1 loss to Peruvian side Binacional. Following the outbreak of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, the season was halted for various months, and as such Antony made his last appearance for the club on 14 March, featuring in the 2–1 victory over rivals Santos in the ''San-São'' derby.

Ajax

2020–21: Development and adaptation to the Netherlands

On 23 February 2020,

signed Antony on a five-year deal, effective from 1 July 2020, for an initial £13 million, which could rise to £18.2 million. He made his debut for the club on 13 September 2020, scoring the only goal of an away win over

Sparta Rotterdam Sparta Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club based in Rotterdam. Established on 1 April 1888, Sparta Rotterdam is the oldest professional football team in the Netherlands. Sparta currently compete in the Eredivisie, the top flight ...

. He made his debut in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

on 27 October, in a 2–2 draw against

Atalanta Atalanta (; grc-gre, Ἀταλάντη, Atalantē) meaning "equal in weight", is a heroine in Greek mythology. There are two versions of the huntress Atalanta: one from Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene and who is primarily known ...

, leaving the field in the 90th minute, following a collision with Ruslan Malinovskyi, before scoring his first goal in the competition on 3 November 2020, in a 2–1 away win over

Midtjylland The Central Denmark Region ( da, Region Midtjylland), or more directly translated as the Central Jutland Region and sometimes simply Mid Jutland, is an administrative region of Denmark established on 1 January 2007 as part of the 2007 Danish muni ...

. During the

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

season, Antony competed with

David Neres David Neres Campos (; born 3 March 1997) is a Brazilian professional association football, footballer who plays as a winger (association football), winger for Portuguese Primeira Liga club S.L. Benfica, Benfica and the Brazil national football t ...

for a spot in the starting line-up, eventually winning his place, contributing to 46 appearances, and finishing the season with 11 goals and 10 assists, including a goal in the 3–1 defeat of Vitesse in the domestic cup final, helping Ajax win the domestic double of the

and the

2021–22: Breakthrough and second Eredivisie title

The following season, despite the signings of

Mohamed Daramy Mohamed Daramy (born 7 January 2002) is a Danish professional footballer who plays as a winger and forward for French Ligue 1 club Reims and the Denmark national team. Club career F.C. Copenhagen Daramy joined Copenhagen from Hvidovre as a ...

and

Steven Berghuis Steven Berghuis (born 19 December 1991) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays for Eredivisie club Ajax and the Netherlands national team. He can play as either a winger or attacking midfielder. Berghuis made his debut for the Netherland ...

, Antony kept his place in the starting line-up, and with his two goals and five assists against

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP, often known abroad as Sporting Lisbon , is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Lisbon. It is best known for the professional foot ...

and

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, commonly known as Borussia Dortmund (), BVB (), or simply Dortmund (), is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its men's professional footb ...

, Ajax became the first Dutch club to win all six Champions League group games in the competition's history. His three goals and one assist earned him the league's Player of the Month and Talent of the Month award for December. On 20 March, Antony scored a dramatic late winner in a 3–2 victory against

De Klassieker De Klassieker (''The Classic'') is the main football rivalry of the Netherlands, between Ajax (of Amsterdam) and Feyenoord (of Rotterdam). The record attendance was on 9 January 1966, when 65,562 watched in Rotterdam. History Amsterdam vs Rott ...

rivals

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the club changed to various names before settling on being called after its ...

in Eredivisie, being five minutes into the added time, before being sent off, after receiving a second yellow card seconds later for time wasting. Nine days later, while on international duty for Brazil national team, during a

World Cup qualification The FIFA World Cup qualification is a competitive match that a national association football team takes in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the (men's) FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments are hel ...

match, Antony suffered an ankle injury, which ruled him out for the remainder of the season. He ended the campaign with 12 goals and 10 assists, as Ajax retained their Eredivisie title.

August 2022: Desire to leave Ajax

Following his return from injury against

Fortuna Sittard Fortuna Sittard (; li, Fortuna Zitterd ) is a football club in Sittard, Netherlands. The club currently plays its football in the 12,500 capacity Fortuna Sittard Stadion and features in the Eredivisie. The club was established through a merger ...

on 6 August, the

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

season was preceded by a dispute over the desire for Antony to leave Ajax. After Ajax rejected the interest expressed by

for Antony's service, including an €85 million transfer bid, he failed to turn up to training, being left out of the matchdays squads against Sparta Rotterdam and

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city and a List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, pro ...

. In an interview, Antony revealed that he had wanted to leave in February, but he waited to the end of the summer window for the transfer to proceed, rejecting a contract renewal from Ajax in order to "follow his dreams".

Manchester United

2022–23: Debut season

On 30 August 2022, Ajax confirmed they had reached an agreement with

for Antony's transfer. Two days later, Antony signed a five-year contract for a transfer fee of €95 million (£82 million), with a further €5 million (£4.27 million) in add-ons, the third highest transfer fee ever paid by the club after

Paul Pogba Paul Labile Pogba (born 15 March 1993) is a French professional footballer who plays for club Juventus and the France national team. He operates primarily as a central midfielder, but can be deployed as a left winger, attacking midfielder, de ...

and

Romelu Lukaku Romelu Lukaku Bolingoli (; born 13 May 1993) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a striker for club Inter Milan, on loan from club Chelsea, and the Belgium national team. Lukaku began his senior club career playing for Ander ...

and this was Ajax's and the Eredivisie's biggest transfer ever. Upon his arrival at the club he was handed the number 21 shirt previously worn by

Edinson Cavani Edinson Roberto Cavani Gómez (; born 14 February 1987) is a Uruguayan professional footballer who plays as a striker for La Liga club Valencia and the Uruguay national team. Nicknamed ''El Matador'' ('The Bullfighter'), being known for his i ...

, who had recently departed the club. On 4 September, he scored on his debut for the club in a 3–1 home league victory over

rivals A rivalry is the state of two people or groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each participant o ...

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

. He scored again in United's next league match, a 6-3 defeat to local rivals

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

on 2 October. The next week, he scored for a third successive league game to equalise the score at Everton, as United won 2–1, becoming the first United player to score in their first three consecutive Premier League games.

International career

Youth

On 15 May 2019, he was named in the Brazil under-23 squad for the

2019 Toulon Tournament The 2019 Toulon Tournament (officially french: 47ème Festival International "Espoirs" – Tournoi Maurice Revello) was the 47th edition of the Toulon Tournament. It was held in the department of Bouches-du-Rhône from 1 to 15 June 2019. England w ...

, helping his team win the competition, scoring two goals, including one in the final against

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. On 17 June 2021, Antony was named in the Brazil under-23 squad for the

. He started in all of Brazil's six games at the tournament. In the final against

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, he assisted Malcom's winning goal in extra-time as Brazil won the title. He scored six goals in 22 games for the under-23 team.

Senior

Antony made his debut for the

Brazil national football team The Brazil national football team ( pt, Seleção Brasileira de Futebol), nicknamed ''Seleção Canarinho'' (‘Canary Squad’, after their bright yellow jersey), represents Brazil in men's international football and is administered by the B ...

on 7 October 2021 in a World Cup qualifier against

. He came on as a substitute in the 77th minute and scored a goal in added time to establish the final score of 3–1 for Brazil. On 7 November 2022, he was named in the squad for the

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Brazil's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Antony goal''

Honours

Ajax *

, 2021–22 *

Brazil U23 *

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

Toulon Tournament The Toulon Tournament (officially the Festival International "Espoirs" – Tournoi Maurice Revello) is a football (training match) tournament, which traditionally features invited national teams composed of youth players from U-17 to U-23 level. ...

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

Individual *J-League Under-17 Challenge Cup Player of the Tournament: 2018 *FPF Copa São Paulo de Futebol Júnior Player of the Tournament: 2019 *

Team of the Year:

*Eredivisie Player of the Month: December 2020 *Eredivisie Talent of the Month:

December 2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

References

External links

Profile
at the Manchester United F.C. website {{DEFAULTSORT:Antony 2000 births Living people People from Osasco Footballers from São Paulo (state) Brazilian footballers Association football wingers São Paulo FC players AFC Ajax players Manchester United F.C. players Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Eredivisie players Premier League players 2022 FIFA World Cup players Brazil youth international footballers Brazil international footballers Olympic footballers of Brazil Footballers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic medalists in football Olympic gold medalists for Brazil Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Brazilian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in England Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands