Manchester United head coach, Erik ten Hag, has said that Antony is in contention to make his return in Today’s Champions League clash with Galatasaray at Old Trafford.
The 23-year-old has not been involved for the Red Devils since September 3, missing the team’s last five matches in all competitions.
Antony had been given a leave of absence to address allegations of abuse that have been made against him by his former girlfriend and at least one other woman.
The police in both Manchester and Sao Paulo are currently investigating the alleged incidents, but it was confirmed towards the end of last week that Antony was back training with the Red Devils.
The Brazil international was not involved in Saturday’s 1-0 loss to Crystal Palace in the Premier League, but Ten Hag said during his press conference on Monday that the forward had a chance of being included in the squad against Galatasaray in the European Cup.
“Antony will be in consideration but yesterday was his first time back in team training. We have a final training, then we’ll make a decision,” Ten Hag told reporters. “Antony co-operated fully and it came out, he’s not charged, so.”
The forward’s return would be a big boost for a team that has lost five of their nine matches in all competitions at the start of the 2023-24 campaign.
The Red Devils are already playing catch-up in Group A, meanwhile, having lost 4-3 to Bayern Munich in their opening match in the Champions League on September 20.
Ten Hag also insisted during his press conference that “the team is moving forward” despite their struggles for results in the opening weeks of the new season.
“I think I don’t agree with that [lack of progress]. The team is moving forward, but we have to make adjustments as well,” he added.
“When you don’t have a left-back [fit], we have to change and we did. At the end of the day, it’s about results and we didn’t get the result we were looking for, which is very disappointing.”
Ten Hag also said that his side are ready to “move forward” from their disappointing home loss to Palace in the league on Saturday afternoon.
“We are disappointed about the result. You have to analyse the game, see the problems and move forward.”
Man United will switch their attention back to the Premier League after Tuesday’s European affair, with Brentford visiting Manchester on Saturday afternoon. —SportsMole
