By 90min | Created at 2024-10-29 21:33:04 | Updated at 2024-11-05 14:44:48
1 week ago
Manchester United are 'hopeful' that Antony has avoided any serious injury after he was stretched off during the club's 1-1 Europa League draw with Fenerbahce on Thursday night.
The Brazilian winger has been fit throughout the season but limited to a substitute's role for much of the campaign. Erik ten Hag has started Antony just once - in September's 7-0 thrashing of third-tier Barnsley - all season. The Dutchman won't have the opportunity to even bring the former Ajax forward off the bench in the near future.
United delivered a vague update on Antony's status a day before travelling to West Ham United's London Stadium this weekend, offering only that his ankle injury was being assessed and that he missed Saturday's training session, according to The Athletic.
"It's really unlucky for him," Erik ten Hag sighed after the midweek European tie. "I feel real compassion for him, when he worked so hard in training.
"His training performances are that good that he deserved to come on. When you have to come off so quickly, that is really sad to see. Hopefully, it's not too bad, we have to wait 24 hours for what the assessment is."
Antony had to be stretchered off against Fenerbahce / Burak Kara/GettyImages
Fabrizio Romano subsequently claimed that tests had shown Antony to have suffered a sprained ankle. While this injury will likely sideline the 24-year-old for at least a couple of weeks, it is not as severe as some may have first feared after seeing the stretcher and the protective boot which Antony later wore to walk out of Fenerbahce's stadium.
This may be Antony's first injury of the season, but fitness concerns have plagued United in recent months. Ten Hag insisted that the endless list of absentees has held the team back.
"We need more players often available, and then we have to work altogether on this point. That is the players, the coaching staff, all the other staff," the frustrated coach said earlier this week.
"We have to do better and to get more available players because we know when we have them, we are a really tough team to play, and when we have them, we can be really, really successful. And that is what we have shown over the last couple of months."
