The fact that Erik ten Hag chose to replace Antony with Facundo Pellistri against Bayern Munich on Tuesday night was a sign of something.

Late in the second half, Manchester United was in danger of being knocked out of the Champions League. The Dutch manager thought that a bench player who had already played 323 minutes this season would be more useful than his record signing.

The only thing that was surprising about the change was that Ten Hag thought of it after 75 minutes.

Antony is not the only one to blame for United’s exit from the Champions League, and he is also not Ten Hag’s biggest problem during a season that has been full of major problems.

However, the Brazilian was once again disappointing against Bayern. It is hard to understand why Ten Hag keeps picking him besides blind faith.

Antony got off to a good start on Tuesday night. In the first 20 minutes, he freed Diogo Dalot and Scott McTominay and nutmegged Leon Goretzka.

But he quickly went back to being himself and didn’t do much for the rest of the game as United couldn’t even come close to beating Bayern.

This story arc nicely sums up Antony’s work in England so far. 

When he moved from Ajax to United for £82 million last year, the Brazilian became the second most expensive player in United’s history.

At first, three goals in his first three games put doubters to rest and made it look like the ridiculously high fee United paid—the biggest fee ever received by an Eredivisie club—might have been worth it.

Now that we can see it clearly, it was the most deceptive fake dawn. 

Antony played 44 times in all categories last season and scored eight goals but only set up three others.

The 23-year-old has played 26 times for United and has one assist but no goals since April 16 when he scored against Nottingham Forest.

In comparison, Jadon Sancho has scored more goals and set up more others during the same period, even though he hasn’t played for the first team since September.

After only two games, Pellistri has had as many assists this season as Antony did in April of last year.

Even though both Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford are having a terrible season, they have scored and set up more goals this season than Antony has in the last eight months.

If you looked at the Brazilians’ problems in isolation, you might think they were just a waste of money. Sometimes, big teams do make mistakes when they sign players.

But they are very worrying about the bigger picture of Ten Hag’s plan to get United back to the top of English football.

Even the Dutchman’s fiercest critics agree that he needed time to fix the team he took over and do what Ralf Rangnick called “open heart surgery.”

There were players signed by Ten Hag, Jose Mourinho, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, and Sir Alex Ferguson in United’s back five in the second half of their loss to Bayern.

But Antony takes that case apart. In the same way that Mason Mount, Andre Onana, and Rasmus Hojlund were signed by Ten Hag this summer, he was signed.

In the same way that he pushed for Lisandro Martinez to join from Ajax, the Dutchman knew what he was getting with Antony.

Ten Hag told United’s website at the time of the Brazilian’s show, “He impressed me with his football skills and as a person.”

“I like that he’s a fighter and wants to win sports games.”

In his first season with Ajax, Antony played 46 games and scored 10 goals, and set up 10 more. He also helped the team win the Dutch Super Cup.

The next season, he was just as productive. In 33 games across all competitions, he scored 12 goals and set up 8 others, helping Ajax win their second straight Eredivisie title.

So far, making the jump to the Premier League has been too much for him, but Jaap Stam says that shouldn’t be a surprise.

The ex-Manchester United and Holland defender told the Stick to Football show, “Antony, he’s not good enough for this level that we’re looking for at United.”

“He wasn’t the best player in Holland or anything.” 

“He did okay for Ajax, but they play in a league with a few good players. The rest of the players in that league are, with all due respect, average.”

Both Antony and Ten Hag have good reasons for what they did. For example, Ten Hag helped the player when he was accused of domestic violence earlier this year.

The first player isn’t to blame for the ridiculously high price United paid for him, and the second player made it clear that Antony was his top attacking goal.

Ten Hag wanted a left-footed player to balance out his forwards, but United didn’t want to pay what Ajax wanted for the player.

Antony may just be a product of his situation, as the Dutchman himself said, “United will never play like my Ajax team.”

But it looks more and more like he will just be remembered as an expensive failure. His failure at Old Trafford could have major effects on Ten Hag.