Antony breaks down in tears after describing how badly Manchester United treated him before leaving

Antony cut an emotional figure when talking about his time at Manchester United during his first interview as a Real Betis player.

Antony, 25, completed a move worth up to £21.6m from Man United to Real Betis on transfer deadline day following a successful loan at the La Liga side in the 2024/25 campaign, during which he contributed with nine goals and five assists in 26 appearances for the Andalusian club.

The 25-year-old has penned a five-year deal at the Spanish side, bringing his Man United spell to an end with the Brazilian having made 96 appearances for the Premier League club following his 2022 move from Ajax.

The winger previously opened up about the difficulties he faced during his time at United earlier this year and claimed that he fell out of love with football during an interview with TNT Sports Brazil.

“It was a moment when I thought about stopping playing,” Antony said.

“I no longer felt that desire to play football because of everything I was going through, because of all the accusations and because I had remained silent for so long.”

He added: “I went through difficult times (at United) when I no longer felt that pleasure. I even told my brother that I couldn’t take it anymore.”

And during his time at Betis, the 25-year-old performed much better on the pitch and was visibly happier off it.

But things did not run smoothly ahead of Antony’s permanent move to Betis. When it appeared that the deal was all but done, the agreement hit a snag before Betis released a statement confirming that the deal was off.

BBC Sport reported that the withdrawal of the offer was because Antony “wanted part of his United contract to be paid off”.

But the reported issues were resolved, and a 50% net sell-on clause was inserted into the deal with a zero pay-off to the player.

On Tuesday, Antony was unveiled as a Betis player amid mass excitement from the club’s supporters who were gathered at Seville airport.

The player has since spoken about his time at United once more.

“What happened in Manchester, only I know how difficult it was,” said a visibly emotional Antony during his unveiling.

Of course, before his exit, Antony was part of a group of out-of-favour players dubbed the ‘bomb squad’ at United, which included Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho, Tyrell Malacia and Alejandro Garnacho.

“I’m sorry. Training separately, but that’s part of life. I knew this moment would come. It’s in the past.”