The Man Utd shirt number that Antony could wear as £85m transfer ‘agreed’

Manchester United have reportedly agreed a deal to sign attacker Antony from Ajax.

The Brazilian played under Erik ten Hag in Amsterdam and could now reunite with him at Old Trafford.

Antony, 22, has been playing his football in Holland since 202 and has caught the eye.

According to a report by Sky Sports, the Red Devils could fork out £85million to lure him to England.

The player was left out of Ajax’s game over the weekend against FC Utrecht as they ran out comfortable 2-0 winners.

Antony’s career to date?

Antony was born in Osasco, Brazil, and started his career at local side Sao Paulo.

He rose up through the academy of the Serie A outfit and was a regular for them at various youth levels before breaking into their first-team.

The forward went on to play 52 games in all competitions as a youngster and chipped in with six goals to earn a move over to Europe.

Ajax snapped him up for a fee of £14million (as per Transfermarkt) and he has since adapted well to life in the Eredivisie.

He has scored 25 goals in 82 games altogether for Ajax to date and helped them win the league title in both of the past two previous seasons under Ten Hag.

Antony is also a Brazil international and has nine caps under his belt to date.

What will he offer to United?

If United can get the move over the line before the deadline, they will be bringing in a player with bags of potential and an eye for goal.

Antony has a decent record in front of goal so far and at the age of 22, has time to develop and get better in the future.

He will give the North West giants more competition and depth in forward areas and something different to their current options in that department.

Ten Hag knows all about him already and has proven that he can get the best out of him over in Holland. Now it will just be a case of him getting up to speed in the Premier League as soon as possible.

What shirt number could he wear?

Antony currently wears the number 11 shirt for Ajax, but that is currently occupied at United.

He also wore 39 in his early days at Sao Paulo but Scott McTominay has taken that at Old Trafford and has kept it for the 2022/23 campaign.

United have filled their numbers from 1 to 11 now meaning Antony is likely to take on that he hasn’t worn before for his proposed new team.

13 and 15 as the smallest available options, whilst 21 and 24 are all other possibilities for him.

Park Ji-Sung wore 13 during his seven years at the club, despite that number being unlucky for some.

15 was famously donned by popular former centre-back Nemanja Vidić, whilst Darren Fletcher is probably the most notable former number 24.

Over 30, Antony has the pick of 31, 32 and 35.