A look at Ajax’s latest Brazilian signing, Antony

Dutch Eredivisie giants Ajax announced the signing of 20-year-old Brazilian Antony from Sao Paulo back in February.

The deal is for a reported initial €15.5m (£13m), which could rise to €21.75m (£18.2m), going through in the summer when the European transfer window opens.

This is one of the most expensive signings in the club’s history, but with recent sales of Matthijs de Ligt, Frenkie de Jong and Hakim Ziyech, there’s plenty of money available to reinvest.

Antony’s transfer came days after Chelsea had announced the signing of Ziyech from the Amsterdam-based club.

It will be a like-for-like replacement with both players being left-footed and predominantly being right wingers.

Anthony will join fellow Brazilian winger David Neres, who has been at Ajax since joining from Sao Paulo in 2017. Neres has been a regular starter in the side for the past three seasons, both a playmaker and goalscorer.

Ajax’s latest Brazilian signing made his professional debut in 2018 but really broke out last year as a regular in the Sao Paulo first team, making more than 40 appearances across all competitions.

The winger stands at 5’9″ and is nifty with the ball, darting past full-backs, being a natural dribbler and exciting in possession.

Ajax have developed endless youngsters into stars over the years, including Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Christian Eriksen and Davinson Sanchez from outside of their own country.

Whether Antony will go straight into the Ajax first team remains to be seen but he has big foots to fill after Hakim Ziyech had scored six goals and assisted 12 more in 21 Eredivisie starts this season prior to the league’s cancellation in April.

The big difference between the two players is that Ziyech was 23 years old when he joined the Dutch giants, having previously played over 100 Eredivisie games with Heerenveen and FC Twente combined. He reached his peak in his final 18 months at the Johan Cruyff Arena after originally arriving in 2016.

The youngster certainly has the potential to do so in the coming years, already a regular for the Brazil under-23s, with six goals in 14 appearances.

Anthony has shown himself to be more of a playmaker in his early days at Sao Paolo, but likes to shoot too, so goals are likely to be a big part of his game in the coming years.

Watch some clips of Antony below: