Antony's Liverpool Bid Revelation Before United Transfer
Antony’s Manchester United story has long been framed around one question: was he ever really worth £82 million? Now the Brazilian has added a twist of his own – he says he could have been Mohamed Salah’s successor at Liverpool instead.
Speaking to ESPN Brazil, the winger lifted the lid on the summer of 2022, when he left Ajax and followed Erik ten Hag to Old Trafford. United’s pursuit was public, aggressive and, in the end, successful. Behind the scenes, he says, Liverpool were pushing just as hard.
Klopp’s call and Salah’s contract cloud
According to Antony, Liverpool tabled a concrete offer while Salah’s future hung in the balance. The Egyptian was locked in contract talks, his long-term commitment uncertain enough for Jurgen Klopp to scan the market for a potential replacement.
“When I went to Manchester United, I had a proposal from Liverpool, from Klopp, on the table,” Antony recalled. “It was also very good. Salah was negotiating a departure, but he ended up staying. Then the manager called me. The name of Manchester United carries weight.”
In that moment, the landscape looked very different. Liverpool were drawing up contingency plans for life after Salah. United were trying to give Ten Hag a familiar weapon for his rebuild. Antony chose the badge he felt carried the greater pull.
The rest of the story is now part of Premier League folklore.
Salah stays, Antony struggles
Salah signed his new Liverpool deal, stayed on Merseyside and continued to define an era. He remained the club’s attacking reference point, adding another Premier League title and a stack of individual honours to an already glittering CV.
By the time this season closed, he had amassed 257 goals in 442 games for Liverpool in all competitions. This year brought only 12 goals in 41 matches, a clear drop from his peak numbers, but the body of work is unarguable. Liverpool built a dynasty with Salah at the heart of it.
Antony’s path ran in the opposite direction. The fee – around £82m – set a brutal standard from day one at Old Trafford. He never consistently justified it. Flashes of quality arrived, but the end product never matched the price tag or the expectation.
Last summer, United cut ties and sanctioned a permanent move to Real Betis. Away from the Premier League glare, Antony has quietly pieced his career back together, delivering one of his best seasons: 14 goals and 10 assists in 46 appearances across all competitions.
While Salah’s Liverpool chapter edges towards its final pages, Antony’s resurgence in Spain hints at a career that might yet find a more stable rhythm.
“A bit of a lack of respect”
Antony has not forgotten his time in Manchester, though. Asked about his United spell, he stopped short of naming names but did not hide his frustration with the environment he left behind.
“Look, I'm not the kind of guy who gets involved in controversies, who names people, in fact, I won't mention anyone's name here,” he told ESPN Brazil. “But I think there was a bit of a lack of respect there, even a bit of rudeness too, with no one giving you a good morning, a good afternoon.
“Not even that. But, anyway, that's in the past, I won't give much importance to these things. Now I'm here, at Betis, I'm living here, that's the most important thing for me.”
It is a pointed glimpse into a dressing room and a club often accused of lacking cohesion and clarity since Sir Alex Ferguson retired. For Antony, the verdict is simple: the fit was wrong, on and off the pitch.
A sliding-doors summer
Viewed in hindsight, Antony’s revelation about Liverpool sharpens the sense of what might have been across two giants of English football.
Liverpool, had Salah walked away in 2022, might have built a new frontline around a 22-year-old winger fresh from lighting up the Eredivisie. Would he have thrived under Klopp’s structure and pressing machine, with Anfield at his back?
United, had Liverpool got there first, would have been forced to look elsewhere for Ten Hag’s attacking cornerstone. Would that have spared them one of the most scrutinised transfers in their modern history?
Instead, Salah stayed and extended his legend. Antony chose United, faltered, and has had to rebuild in Spain. The Brazilian now cuts a more assured figure at Betis, his numbers finally matching his talent.
He once stood on the brink of becoming Liverpool’s answer to a looming Salah problem. Today, he is something different: a reminder of how quickly the game can turn, and how one decision in one summer can redraw the map of two clubs for years.
