Erik ten Hag has spoken about Antony for the first time since Manchester United announced they were allowing the Brazilian back into the squad.
The manager said he did not believe Antony’s return after facing serious allegations from three women would cause a distraction for his side, although he would not go into detail beyond the statement released by United explaining the decision. Antony was granted a leave of absence on September 10 to deal with the charges, but returned to England this week and voluntarily attended a police interview.
“I refer to the statement, everything is made clear in the statement, I don’t think it’s a distraction,” Ten Hag said at a press conference on Friday. “We will focus on the matches. He too anyway”.
The Brazilian will resume training on Saturday and will therefore miss United’s next game against Crystal Palace. However, he could be in the squad for Man United’s next game against Galatasaray in the Champions League on Tuesday, writes Goal.com.
Ten Hag complained about the high number of injuries affecting United and other clubs due to the increased number of matches. “Whenever the schedule is extended, the load on the players is too much, it’s such an overload. Many of my colleagues have noted this, myself included. But she continues. We continue with the expansion of the schedule. It won’t stop. The players can no longer deal with this overload and I think that’s what you say in this team at the moment.”
Elsewhere, the Red Devils take on Crystal Palace at Old Trafford looking for a second straight Premier League win after last week’s narrow 1-0 win against Burnley.
