Antony: Sao Paulo set to secure huge payout from £85m Man Utd deal
Manchester United’s €100m (£85m) deal for Ajax winger Antony is set to see the Brazilian’s former club Sao Paulo secure a sizeable windfall from the transfer.
Antony started his career at Sao Paulo, joining the youth ranks of his home city team aged 10, before being promoted to the first-team in 2018. Just two years later, he was signed by Ajax, effectively becoming a replacement for Hakim Ziyech in Amsterdam.
Now 22, Antony has gone from strength to strength in Dutch football and will imminently reunite with former Ajax coach Erik ten Hag in Manchester.
Due to Sao Paulo’s foresight in 2020, when Antony was just turning 20, Ajax are contractually obliged to pass on 20% of the profit they have made on the player.
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“Ajax were asking about him. They had offered €3m for him in 2018 and were willing to pay much more to take him to Amsterdam this time,” former Sao Paulo director Alexandre Passaro has told BBC Sport now that Antony is joining United.
“We would end up selling him in the beginning of 2020, but making sure that we included a 20 per cent profit clause because we knew he would reach a high level.”
Ajax paid an initial fee the equivalent of £13m for Antony and have agreed a deal with United that starts at a guaranteed £80m. Their profit on those numbers, excluding any add-ons comes in at around £67m, which stands to entitle Sao Paulo to around £13m, matching what they sold him for.