By 
The lounge of a five-star Beverly Hills hotel is an incongruous setting for Antony to be discussing life in the Sao Paulo favela of Inferninho. Little Hell.
He has an image of the ghetto tattooed across his back and the word ‘favela’ written on his boots, as if permanent reminders are needed.
As if he would forget growing up amongst the drugs and violence or stepping over a corpse on his way to school at the age of eight; an impoverished childhood playing futsal in bloodied bare feet because his parents couldn’t afford boots, or going hungry until nine o’clock at night when they came home from work.
As if he would forget sleeping between them when rain leaking into the lounge made it impossible to stay on the sofa until they separated when he was 10.
Antony was still sharing a bed with his father when he made his professional debut for Sao Paulo, just 18 months before he signed for Erik ten Hag at Ajax and three years before he followed the Dutchman to Manchester Unitedin a deal worth up to £86million.
No-one is pretending it has gone smoothly. The Brazil winger has fallen well short of justifying that transfer fee over two seasons at Old Trafford that have yielded 11 goals and five assists in 82 appearances. In exactly the same number of games at Ajax, he produced 24 goals and 22 assists for Ten Hag.
Then there’s the scowling, the showboating, the venting at his manager for playing him as an emergency left-back, the cupping of the ears at Coventry’s beaten players after United won a penalty shootout in April en route to beating Manchester City in the FA Cup final and, of course, those off-the-field allegations.
Antony has strenuously denied accusations of domestic abuse by his ex-partner Gabriela Cavallin, but it cost the 24-year-old a place in the Brazil squad and overshadowed his second season in England.
‘Definitely,’ he agreed at United’s pre-season base at the SLS Hotel in Los Angeles before facing City at Wembley again in the Community Shield on Saturday.
‘A lot happened over the year in my personal life. Like it or not, everything I went through had an effect on the pitch. It was very difficult for me and all my family, but I’ve learnt from it all. I’ve grown and matured.
‘I believe I learnt a lot from the adversity. I learn from everything I go through and learn that everything is possible when you persist in achieving what you want. I’ve put the past behind me, what I went through last season.
‘There were good moments as well. Winning a trophy in a United shirt is really important. I matured and grew from it all and this will make me stronger going into this new season. I’m a lot more focussed and prepared to achieve great things.’
There is very little you can throw at Antony that he didn’t face in the favela, and far worse besides. The emotion is clear on his face and in his voice as he describes what 19 years in Inferninho has taught him.
‘My childhood was very difficult,’ he said. ‘I talked about the difficult times I went through last year, but I’ve overcome more significant difficulties in the favela. Like when I didn’t have boots to play football and when at times there wasn’t enough to eat.
‘It’s tremendously rewarding to see where I am today, living the dream of playing for United. I often look at photos of the favela on my phone to remember where I came from and everything I overcame to get where I am.
‘I always get emotional talking about the favela because it’s somewhere I learnt so much through adversity. We had nothing, just our faith in God and determination.
‘It’s not by chance that I have the favela where I grew up tattooed across my back. I have such love and affection for it.
‘I saw a lot of friends go down another path and some of them lost their lives. I always persisted and believed in my dream to be where I am today.
‘When people talk about me or criticise me, I always find solace in where I came from. I’ll never let anyone else write my story or let people put me down, as I genuinely know what it’s like to be at the bottom.
‘I know what I went through. I know what my mother, father, brother and sister suffered together with me. There’s my wife as well who I’ve known since 2017, she was in the favela with me. The most difficult moment in my childhood was my parents’ separation in 2010 when I was 10.
‘I’m really grateful to the favela, it’s somewhere I suffered a lot, but always with a smile on my face. It’s somewhere I’ll take with me for the rest of my life. I always play with favela written on my boots as it’s always with me.
‘A lot of people don’t have this understanding, where you come from and what you’ve overcome. You come from nothing and now have practically everything with such ease – it’s difficult to deal with all of this.
‘You go from not having enough to eat. I didn’t have a bedroom. I slept on the sofa in the living room and my house would flood when it rained heavily. These are things that people don’t see, what we went through and suffered.
‘I remember when I was little, my mum and dad would work a lot and only come home at night. I said to my mum that there will come a time when she can stop working and I’ll be the one doing the running and providing.
‘Today I can live this dream. I can see my mum provided for well. I’m doing the running now.’
The view that United massively overpaid for Antony by agreeing to give Ajax £81.3m plus £4.27m in add-ons has only hardened over time.
He scored on his debut against Arsenal, the first of three goals in six games, and eight in total for the season. Three more followed last term, including a big goal in the FA Cup quarter-final against Liverpool, but the fiery Brazilian railed against Ten Hag for moving him to left-back towards the end and did the same against Arsenal in the Premier League in May.
By the end of the season, Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho were firmly established as United’s first-choice wingers, with Antony an unused substitute for the last three games including the Cup Final win over City. In pre-season, he appears to have fallen behind Amad Diallo too.
While Ten Hag has described Antony as ‘unstoppable’, the evidence so far suggests otherwise. There is ample room for improvement from a winger who relies too heavily on his left foot and needs a better end product.
‘I’m someone who demands a lot of myself and I was obviously not satisfied with my season,’ he said.
‘A lot happened last season. I played full-back and was a little uneasy about it, but that was because with the team losing or drawing you want to be in the attack to turn things around and help the team.
‘Being moved into defence bothered me a bit. You feel annoyed in the moment during the game, but afterwards it’s all fine. I have tremendous affection for Erik and he has a lot of affection for me. He’s a great coach and he knows he can rely upon me.’
To try and improve his performances, Antony and his partner Rosilene came up with the idea of listing his goals for the season.
‘I have a lot of objectives, ones I write down for myself and many for this new season,’ he added. ‘I haven’t been doing this for that long, but I’m doing it a lot more for this season. I have to do it for every game.
‘Always on paper, in my house. I usually take the notes with me but if I leave them at home, I’ll always ask my wife to send me a photo of them.
‘There are a lot of things I note down in detail: how many shots I should be making in a game, I can’t lose the ball, I need to score goals and create assists, pass and dribble completions as well as defensive performance, more work on the right foot. I have a lot of objectives.
‘Rest assured, you’ll hear the name Antony in relation to goals and assists.’ (Dailymail)
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