There are certain footballers you can take one look at and think, "no". Antony was one of those.

Whatever his statistics were with Ajax, Sao Paulo and the Brazil national team, he was the wrong player at the wrong time for Manchester United. It was impossible for Antony to succeed.

The inflated fee the club paid for him on deadline day in September 2022 ensured that and so did Antony's skill set. He is a winger incompatible with the Premier League: one-paced, one-dimensional and one trick.

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Antony's meretricious appearance screamed style over substance and that is what United got. There was that 'Anturny' gimmick that he once attempted with United goalless against FC Sheriff in the Europa League.

His United career is about to go on hiatus as Antony relocates to the more sedate pace of La Liga with Real Betis. Betis are 12th and Seville is a stunningly tranquil city. Calm away from the storm in Manchester.

United have to play the long game. They cannot sell Antony as they would make a loss under the Premier League's profitability and sustainability rules. No club is daft enough to pay more than £40million for Antony. Not even a Saudi side.

In the summer, the magic number would be around £32.5m. Again, nobody is paying that. So the workaround is a season-long loan with an obligation to buy in summer 2026, when Antony will be worth a little over £16m, going off the amortisation of his fee across a five-year contract.

Antony will be remembered for goading the Championship players that United scraped past in a penalty shootout rather than scoring a winner against Barcelona or the game-changing equaliser against Liverpool. That ear-cupping gesture at Wembley was confirmation, as if any more were needed, that his character jarred with United's standards.

The broadcasters filmed Antony shaking his head on the bench as City strolled to victory at Old Trafford last season. For another home defeat to Arsenal, he bristled at instructions to switch to left back. By that stage, there was no coming back.

He has had three starts this season - two in the League Cup and one in the Europa League - and one goal. That was a penalty against League One Barnsley. There was a tap-in at League Two Newport County in the FA Cup last January. The open-goal of a joke was that Antony had found his level.

When United agreed that infamous £86.3million fee with Ajax, they were specifically impressed with the "attitude" Antony had shown to sign for the club. Ie. he had gone on strike. A red flag before he joined the Reds.

They also claimed Antony was high on their scouting radar before Ten Hag arrived. No, none of us believed that, either.

United were aware of all of this as his only coach in Europe had been Erik ten Hag. Ten Hag's two-and-a-half years in Manchester are proof he is not a reliable judge of character or player. He never truly recovered from the abandoned plan to reintegrate Mason Greenwood into the United squad.

Ten Hag likened Antony to Arjen Robben after he scored at Nottingham Forest in April 2023, one of a handful of truly outstanding performances. Amad is a far more credible comparison with one of Dutch football's greatest this century. Ten Hag started Omari Forson, who featured for Monza Under 20s this month, ahead of him less than a year ago against Fulham.

Antony was also on the bench that day. United players had previously been convinced he enjoyed special privileges under Ten Hag but, whatever they were, they were revoked in a season where he notched one Premier League goal.

Many United players never took to Antony, though there are few signings they have not been perplexed by. One teammate was dismayed by Antony's behaviour towards staff in the canteen at Carrington, though a well-placed source described the exchanges as more convivial.

Last season, Antony went rogue with an unauthorised statement to an external channel regarding allegations of domestic abuse in England and Brazil. It did not go unnoticed by staff at United that the same channel coincidentally revealed Antony-related team news.

After he scored his last Premier League goal against Burnley in April, Antony made a beeline for a personal videographer who was clutching a Sonic the Hedgehog toy for him to brandish in tribute to his son, Lorenzo.

It was a sweet gesture and Antony made good on the chutzpah he exhibited to arrange for its presence. One also wondered how long Sonic had been tucked under the advertising hoarding for.