Man Utd: Antony told ‘unfair backlash’ against him takes ‘spotlight away’ from £222m Chelsea duo

Glen Johnson insists the criticism that Man Utd winger Antony gets has “taken the spotlight away” from Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo’s performances for Chelsea.

The Brazilian joined Man Utd from Ajax in 2022 but has failed to live up to expectations with his performances this season falling well below the standard.

Antony has yet to contribute a goal or an assist in 22 appearances in all competitions this season and there have been reports that both Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Erik ten Hag will look to offload him.

But former Chelsea defender Johnson thinks some of the criticism of Antony can be over the top, especially when there are other players in the Premier League like Fernandez and Caicedo – who the Blues signed for a combined £222m – whose poor performances go under the radar.

When asked if the Chelsea duo are lucky not to receive as much stick as the Man Utd winger, Johnson told Betfred: “When you look at it in terms of why Antony is getting so much stick and not them, it does seem unfair, but none of us want to see these players get the stick in the first place. At the end of the day, all of them want to perform at their best, but sometimes in life, that’s not how it is.

“You don’t want to see any of them getting grief, but Antony certainly gets an awful lot of backlash and has, in a way, taken the spotlight away from the likes of Moisés and Enzo. However, I don’t believe any of them deserve that kind of criticism anyway. They’re only criticised because of the price tag, but they haven’t hit the heights.

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“Moisés and Enzo have had so much change going on around them. Obviously, if you’re the manager and the club has bought two guys that have cost around £100 million each, you want them to stand up and pull the others into place. You would expect a bit more character from them, but it’s still early in their Chelsea careers and they have put performances in periodically that are top level but by their standards, they haven’t done it as often as we all would have expected.

“Once they find some form, you still have two great players. Chelsea needs to give them both some time to allow the dust settle.”

When asked what percentage of the current Chelsea squad he’d like to see remain next season, Johnson added: “I’d only want to see five or six players leave. Many of the players they’ve signed recently didn’t come straight into a settled dressing room because there’s been so much change in terms of the playing staff.

“When there’s so many changes, it’s difficult to find the right rhythm. Most of the players deserve more time because they’re so young and they shouldn’t be judged too quickly. Obviously, there’s only so much time you can give players but they’ve cost the club a lot of money and deserve the chance to have a full pre-season in the summer and hopefully we see an improved Chelsea next season.”